Driveway Aspirations

Now that the weather is warmer and drier, the issues we had with our driveway have magically disappeared, and with them, our concerns. This is an unfortunate turn of events, because it makes us complacent and forgetful about how bad it can be. Somehow, each year we survive, and we figure we can get by for another year, when in fact, I think there will come a day when we’ll get stuck, and then it might be too late. Granted, the mud will eventually go away, it always does, but at some point you have to be a little proactive.

With this in mind, I think we should take some action. At the very least we should do what PR does, which is dump a load of gravel on the trouble spots. Gravel is dirt cheap, which makes sense because it’s just rocks. It’s the transport that kills you. The other issue is that darn drain pipe. I still think that we should build a culvert and somehow divert all that moisture through it. As usual, I’ve never dug a culvert before, but it seems pretty straightforward. They say the biggest issue is when it freezes closed, because the water simply runs over the path, but we don’t get that much moisture, just enough to turn the road into serious mud.

Finally, there’s the option of a new driveway, but that is something that would require professional help, so we’ll ponder that one for a bit. I’ve spoken with a few excavators about it, so I have some sense of what needs to be done. We’ll see where this one goes.

Until then, thanks for reading.

Door Knob Crazy

One good turn deserves another, as the saying goes. We put all new door knobs on the barn and our house, but I’d forgotten that there is a door on the second floor of the barn, and we also should replace the deadbolt the French Doors on our house. Back to LaValley’s, who for the record have been very helpful with this endeavor. In fact, not only have they had the things I wanted, but they were friendly, and their prices were very competitive with Home Depot. Plus, I get a discount because I have an account over there. You gotta love that.

Anyway, the one complication is that our French Doors have unusual hardware, and I cannot find an exact match. I can come close with the deadbolt, but it’s slightly off from the handle, which is somewhat unique. I like it, and N has indicated that he’d prefer a handle on that door, so we’ll keep it for now, but eventually I’d like to find a handle that matches the color of the deadbolt. The main issue is that most handles are much bigger, and the current one is small.

In the grand scheme of things, it’s a minor issue, but an issue, nonetheless. Thanks for reading.

Last Step for the Well

One of the important steps for getting the barn finished is finallizing the water system, and that requires the input of the septic engineer. I had no idea this was all part of the process, but apparently before the house becomes official, the engineer has to do one final inspection (done) and then, once the water is connected, he informs the state that the job is complete. I thought you just hooked up the water and took a bath. There were a couple of issues that we needed to address, like securing the pump lid on, which was pretty easy (even I could do it), but that’s all been taken care of.

What’s pretty cool is that there is now water in that barn. Can you believe it? KB hooked the pipes up and now it’s ready to rock and roll. Crazy. I think the electrical is getting to where it needs to be done, and we need to make some insulation decisions, which is never easy, but we are well on our way.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.

Finis

In what is truly a proud moment in a real man in training’s life, I was given a series of jobs to do by a true to life real man, KB, and I actually completed them. I know, it’s hard to believe, especially since I finished them in less than a year, but they’re done.

In did the last of the insulation in the rafters, changing the original plan with KB’s blessing. I was told to install the foam blocks using nails, but I found it didn’t work that well. After putting a few in, I wondered why we didn’t just glue the things in, and when I inquired, KB said that would be fine. This, of course, made life much easier, and not to mention making the job quicker. Best of all, the kids got to help out, though help is subject to interpretation. It’s pretty amusing when you’re trying to do a job in a confined space and your kids are tearing around on their scooters. The barn is the perfect surface for it.

In another humorous moment, A&N wanted to help by handing me the pre-cut blocks while I was on the ladder, and as I applied the glue and reached out for them to hand it to me, they weren’t paying attention because they were making shadow animals on the wall. Ah, parenthood, you have to love it.

Until the next time, thanks for reading.

Raking It In

Boy, I thought I had it easy last fall because we had an early snow in October, but now I’m paying the price. When it snowed, it really came down, and suddenly in early fall there was major snow coverage. I had not even started to rake, so I couldn’t really do much after that. I was kind of happy, because raking is easily my least favorite thing to do.

Now that spring is here and the snow is gone, I now have a massive quanitity of leaves to deal with, and as you might have guessed, I am not a happy camper. If there is one bright side to all this, it’s that the leaves are a little soggy from the snow, so they don’t all blow away once I get them into a pile. It’s not much, but when you’re dealing with raking leaves, you have to take what you can get.

Until the next time, thanks for reading, and thanks to Light Collector for the pic.

Fixing the Kitchen Sink

When you’re training to be a real man, little jobs suddenly become major accomplishments, especially when they involve tools, dirt, sweat and scum. We were having some issues with our kitchen sink, it was draining properly. This is the same sink that JH and his magic bag of tools installed, replacing the pre-existing garbage disposal. It was quite a feat. The new drain, however, was beginning to clog. It drained really slowly, and when we ran the dishwasher, the water would back up and come up the sink hole. Completely disgusting.

Finally I decided to take action. My first thought was to simply try to clear the obstruction through the top, i.e., the easy way. It’s not easy to clear out plumbing slime, however, so I was going to have to remove pipes and clear them manually. I do this on a regular basis in the bathroom, so I had some sense of what to expect, and of course, it wasn’t pretty. It turns out that the connecting pipe had loosened and descended and was no longer at the proper angle to maximize the flow of water. After I fixed that, I reamed the pipe and cleaned the grate, and lo and behold, we had flow. I love when that happens.

I think we need to regularly run water down that drain to keep things moving along. Until the next time, thanks for reading.

Four Out of Five Ain’t Bad

I nailed in the ceiling joist braces last week, and let me tell you, it wasn’t that easy. You don’t realize it, but nailing upwards into the ceiling is a bit of a chore, especially when you’re not a tall person (I just play one on TV). It is definitely one of those tasks that are such a drag that I tend to put them off and ignore them in the hopes that they will magically go away.

However, this time around, I feel like we really want to get this barn finished by the end of summer, if not sooner, so I stopped being such a sissy and just did it. Believe it or not, it’s done. I found the best approach was to not even try to finish it in one day, but rather break it up over several days. It sure felt good nailing in that last brace.

That means that I’ve done the braces, installed the door knobs, cleared the clutter for the electrician, and ripped those wall extensions. Man do I feel like a real man, or rather, a real man in training. The last thing to do to cement my manly status is to insulate the rafter-gaps, or whatever they’re called. I ripped a bunch of blue board and cut it to size, so I’m ready to go. The initial plan was to nail them in, but after consulting with KB, I instead opted for glue. Much easier, and more effective, if you ask me. I know, you’re not asking me.

Once those blocks are in, we are ready to start thinking about insulating the whole structure. From what I’ve been told, we need to go with spray foam or cellulose, both of which are pricey. Fiberglass will not do because the heating system is going to require pipes that go through the walls, and unless you have the right insulation, they’ll freeze. Bummer.

We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, thanks for reading.