Who woulda thought getting BENCHED is a good thing?

So I have wanted to build a work bench since I was old enough to mess up my dad's tools on his.  For the last 12 years, my house was not large enough to accommodate an area befitting a work bench.  But that has changed with my new house.  So after much thought, toiling, perusing, and over thinking, I committed to a design and acted.
I am happy to note that a fair amount of the wood on this bench was "saved" from the trash heap.  There were some pieces of 2x4 that were heading for the dumpster.  I retrieved them, ripped and cross cut to desired dimensions.  I looked for salvaged slab doors with no luck, so I purchased one from Home Depot for $46.

very solid although the design allows for some small flex on the ends.  BUT, this was not built to be a wood working bench specifically.  I will start salvaging 2x4's for that next.
The top is a hard wood slab door 80"x30"x1.75".  I still plan to cover it with a sheet of .125" hardwood and trim the edge with Maple.  

This here is my new Dewalt Miter saw.  A miter stand is next on the list.   I have a few plans I am considering.  I am trying to decide if I should design my own or build off plans (as I did here).

The plank has been walked....again.

So remember that leaking issue I had?  Well a box of new wood planks were delivered a week or so back and left in the Morning room to acclimate.  We came home today and the damaged planks have been replaced.  I was nervous about the results, but from what I can see...I am very happy with the repair.

Remember that kick ass pot organizer I installed?  What I didn't tell you was that while assembling it, I didn't ask for help holding things.  While assembling it on the island, a rather heavy piece went crashing to the floor putting a decent gouge in the hard wood.  My PM worked some magic and had the flooring guy "fix" it.  He didn't replace the board, but he did fill it with some thing.  Looks great.  It wasn't too noticeable before and it's even better now.

I need to check the Morning Room door flashing they installed to fix the leak.  The edges were rather ugly and my PM promised to "make them look better".  I would now, but we just got back from a celebratory 16 year anniversary dinner at "The Melting Pot" and I feel fatter then a fat kid left alone in a twinkie factory.

Tomorrow I assemble the base to my new basement workbench.  I have been scraping good pieces of wood for a couple weeks now.  I ended up needing $15 in new lumber though.  Everything is ripped and cross cut to desired sizes.  A quick trip to HD for some wood screws and I will be glu'n and screw'n.    Check back for pictures.
OH, I also get to buy my new Dewalt 10' Miter saw.  Which means my next project will be a miter bench in the garage.

That's all for now.
carry on.

I got the shakes

So I don't know the answer, but I wanted to get you clued in to be prepared.
Second floor laundry CAN (but not always) come with the shakes.  What do I mean?  Google it.  Turns out that front loaders can be prone to causing house shakes with their high speed spin cycles.  It appears that the sub floor can be bolstered (if you knew to do it during the framing stage), you can add "vibration absorbing feet), etc...
Good luck.  As I said, I don't have an answer to the fix.  It does seem to be washer specific.
Something to consider.

Pallet Rack

So I can get pallets here and there from work.  I found a slightly wider (54" x 42") pallet in good shape.  Using a circular saw,  I cut the pallet in half giving me two 54"x21" pieces.  I bought two 2x4's for $4.34 and cut to 30" lengths giving me about 20" of height on the bottom shelf.  With my boy slamming the screws in, we got it assembled this morning.
Note: I replaced the big rack's 2" casters with 3.25" casters a friend at work gave me.  I then put those 2" casters on my new pallet rack.  Total cost: $4.34 (plus $10 for casters if you need/want them)

Put Ryan to work with a 12v Impact Driver.  Teach 'em young!  Also, notice the space between the pallets?  I found that holds brooms, extra wood, etc... very nicely

He is very proud of his work, and so am I.

So in case you don't see it, with some modifications, this could be used as a garden work bench, hobby bench, etc...  

Check out my rack!

If you saw my last post, you saw the kick ass pot/pan slide out rack from Rev-A-Shelf.  Online looked good, except their ridiculous $50 shipping charge.  So my wife tracked it down at Lowes.  Installation wasn't too bad.  BUT, their box sucks.  The ends kept coming open which may explain how we are missing three screws.  I made do for now, but will contact them tomorrow for replacements.

So I couldn't take it.  I had to buy it.  We found it at Lowes for $139.  I have complained for years about stacking pots, pans, and them damn lids!  No longer.  

So neat.

Now I just need someone to get me a new pot/pan set for a housewarming gift so I can replace the hodge podge of shit cookware we have.

A temparary solution - Pallet Shoe Rack

So if you are like us, you have been taking your shoes off in the garage before walking into your new house.  This means that darn near all my shoes reside in the garage.  I don't mean to be lazy, buy why take them up to the closet so I can bring them back down tomorrow morning. 
This means that we have a decent pile of shoes at the door to deal with.  I have plans to build a modular storage cabinet with a shoe cubby at the bottom, but until then....this could work.

This is my pallet I cut in half with plans this weekend to turn it into a rolling shelf rack.  Until then, it makes a damn fine shoe rack.

I am adding this because I like it so much.  It's from Rev-a-Shelf.  I will have to look into the cost, because this rocks!

Build a shelf idea and the 30 day yap

So if you saw the last post, you saw my new shelf rack in the basement.  Total cost as approx. $70 for 64 square feet of shelf.  That's about a buck per square foot. 
While yapping with Steve (+ Erica), he gave me an idea using pallets.  I found a really nice/clean 54"x40" pallet with .75 MDF screwed to the top!  So I plan to cut the pallet in half, screw 2"x4"x24"(ish) to the corners and make a two shelf rack.  A friend at work has casters sitting in his garage he will give me tomorrow.  So for the cost of a 2x4 (about $2), I will build a two shelf rack on casters yielding 15 square feet of shelf space.  Now this one is about 13 CENTS per square foot. 
I plan to build these smaller pallet shelf units for seasonal storage.  Then when I need, let's say xmas stuff, I will just wheel my shelf to the stairs and start hauling it upstairs.
You can build the same thing without cutting pallet in half.  Just screw some casters to the bottom and you instantly have a full size pallet shelf on wheels.   
I will post a pic or two when I am done.  Probably this weekend.

I also installed one of those curved shower curtain rods.  Very cool.  Those are one of those small things I notice in a hotel shower and always think that it would be nice to put one in my bathroom.  Well, I did.  And it rocks.  

The 30 day went fine.  We started a "30 day list" early on and added to it as needed.  We still forgot a few small things but no biggie.  A gentleman by the name of Ken came in.  He appears to be a "jack of all trades" kind of guy.  I had no complaints with his work. 
The flashing they recently installed under the Morning room walkout still needs to be verified that it's corrected the leaking issue.  THEN they will come replace the damaged wood planks.  My PM said he will fix the ends of the flashing to clean it up, as it looks half assed right now.  With wet snow today turning to rain tonight, I am hoping to get the verification.
Also, I am waiting for the "tub guy" to set a time to come correct my two tub issues.  Having spoken to a friend who recently built a Ryan home and had a tub repair, I feel good about the outcome.  Looks like these "tub guys" are very good at what they do. 

Next project is some shelving on the garage back wall next to the door.  My goal is ample storage, possibly a shoe rack at the bottom AND completely off the floor (screwed/lagged to the wall) for easy garage clean up. 

First Project: Basement Shelf completed

So I have a decent list of builds I want to accomplish.  Before move in, it was hard to prioritize the list.  Then we moved in and I saw the pile of crap in the basement.  Suddenly some basement shelves were at the top of the list.
Overall this shelf unit is 8' long, 2' deep, and 6' tall (before the casters).  I used 2x4's for everything.  Bottom two shelves have 19" of height, third shelf has 18" and the top shelf is limited by the ceiling.  I screwed swivel casters to the bottom for mobility and modularity in the basement.  BUT, if I build another, I will use bigger casters.  She doesn't move easily loaded down....but she moves.

I built the shelf frames in the garage and carried down to the basement for final construction

This is the pile of crap that motivated me to get the shelf built first

Built and ready to load

And there you go.  This has severely reduced the mayhem of crap but could easily use another one.  Next project is either a workbench/miter saw bench in garage OR custom shelving next to door coming into house from garage.  

Finally, some pictures

So after a two hour clean session yesterday....or as my wife calls it, the weekly cleaning, I got some pictures.

Notice the superbowl squares on the fridge?  Yeah, I didn't win anything.  But my wife did with her's.

If you are like us and go buy two stools, buy three.  We sit around the island most nights needing three.  AND, they make great "end tables" in the family room in a pinch.

The morning room, still just a couple of Paong chairs.  Still my favorite Sunday morning spot....when my wife doesn't have me cleaning.

Just need some crap on the walls and an ottoman and it'll be good to go....for a while.

Living room needs an endtable, a comfy reading chair and it will be perfect.

my family room fan.  Awesome huh?

The morning room fan.  more awesomeness.

So Friday we have scheduled our 30 day punch.  We have mostly minor issues like: two doors not latching when closed, few little paint repair concerns, longer drawer screws needed, some caulking needed.  BUT the three issues I consider large are: the leaking sliding door.  Somebody came out and installed some flashing under the morning room door.  Even though I have almond trim, somebody shoved a piece of white trim under the door and called it fixed.  The PM is supposed to be coming out to check it out, I emailed him my displeasure.  Also, I have a "problem" in both tubs.  The general bath has a small hole on the exterior part of the tub.  That looks like an easy fix with a little bondo or fiberglass repair kit.  Then yesterday while giving the MB tub a good scrubbing I found a crack/chip on the interior part of the tub.  I have no idea how that gets fixed. 
So I asked my PM to check the tubs out when he is out today looking at the flashing job so he can get a game plan together for Friday's punch. 
All in all, I am still very happy with my house.  There are issues, but so far my PM has been stellar at handling them.  AND I have learned to "relax" a bit and have patience.