Spring Showers

March is reputable for showers, so we thought we'd build one.  In our never ending quest to finish the basement, we are tiling the bathrooms. Travertine is so last year, and slate is so last month, so we are going to do a hybrid travertine/slate shower.  I'm interested to see it come together. 

We have learned a lot from past shower projects and from taking showers.  This great experience we now have has contributed to the idea that we need a small bench in this shower. The bench is for hanging out in the shower and shaving your legs, if you're into that (once is enough for me).  
Little bro is installing Hardibacker, note that the ceiling will recieve tile as well.

Shower pan goes down before Hardibacker is installed on lower walls.  There is to be no penetration of this membrane from the floor to six inches above the floor.Now you throw some Quikrete Sand Mix in the bottom. Float out at 1/2 to 1/4 bubble, sloped to drain. This is actually difficult. I think this is the first shower that I have floated correctly. I usually make them too steep. A level and a chalk line on the Hardibacker before you place the sand mix helps out tons.Slate 12 x 12 squares, pretty typical and simple.  Note the leg shaving bench on the right.

And this is what I was thinking to put on the wall.  I think we may not install the bling in the center of the crushed chocalate travertine.  I tried so hard to implement some bling in the slate cause it looks so good. Unfortunately, I do not possess the superhuman ability of overruling a pregnant woman. 

Encore

Two blog posts in one day! I know you feel really lucky, kind of like when you order a nine peice chicken nugget at Mickey D's and they give you ten. Our garage gets used and abused. There has been a couple wrecked Duramax trucks that have been rebuilt in there, two wrecked snowmobiles that were rebuilt, and two cats that left hair balls and poo everywhere.  So I cleaned her out and hired my friend Ben to epoxy coat the floor.  The first pic is what it was like last week, notice all the oil spots and junk littering the edges.  The second pic is after I cleaned her up and Ben etched the floor with muratic acid and a grinder.  The third pic is the tan, epoxy base coat cover with four different colored flakes and then a urethane coating on the top. I'll be able to park in there five days after the urethane coat was applied. This stuff costs a ton, but it will make the garage so much nicer to work in.  Imagine your bedroom without carpet.  That's how I use to feel everytime I pulled into my garage. My truck will be so much happier.  

Drywall is Done

We are moving right along with the basement finish now.  We were able to hire some Latinos to do the drywall mud and texture.  It looks great and it didn't cost very much. With the current market, people are desperate for work. My money goes almost twice as far as it did a year ago. Last year I bought electrical wire for about 70 dollars a roll.  You can buy that same roll for just over 30 bucks these days. My advise for the current market, buy, buy, buy! (Don't go into debt though, small note most have forgotten).  

Latest Project

I've been keeping busy over the last couple months.  I half way finished a brick mailbox (that's how we like it in Kentucky), finished the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing in the basement, and even built a work area in my furnace room.  That would be the last picture on this post.  Those cabinets are high quality, straight from China, free ninty-nine cabinets.  The countertop was free too.  

It's nice to work in construction because at the end of a job it's kind of like seeing a couch next to an apartment dumpster and throwing it in the back of your pickup (ahh, missionary memories). In construction sometimes the wrong color is ordered, the wrong size cabinet is built, or someone over ordered a product.  Its either the dumpster or my house.  Go ahead and ask me where that commercial weed barrier under my rock creek came from.  

The first pic is the insulation that was placed by other people.  Yes, I finally hired someone to do something in my basement. Insulation makes me itch and I'm just not into itching.  The next pic is my drywall efforts.  Dan the neighbor is helping which makes it so much easier to install.  A fifteen foot, 5/8" piece of drywall weighs as much as 150 lbs! We are almost finished. Does anyone want to come over for my third drywall party?

I am green!

With the arrival of my new lawn, I may just let my truck idol in the driveway with the AC on to commemorate the good old days when my carbon footprint was Shaq size. If others of you have extra carbon emissions, I will sell you a portion of my lawn's carbon offset so you can sleep better at night knowing you are an idiot, I mean an environmentally friendly individual.

Thank you to all my wonderful friends and family for helping me and the bro with our lawn. The sod went down so easy because of your help. Thanks to Jeff, Skivy, Pukers, Shannon, Joe, Keith, Mike, Sky Man, and Chad's wife.

Four Months Later

It actually took longer to post another blog than it did to finish the deck. The first pic shows my bro with his mind being blown away by my awesome stair making skills. The next one shows the deck completely finished, with the exception of hand rails. You may ask what inspired me to not put hand rails up. Could it be the next trend in 2009, the short arrival of a fire pole, or maybe it is an invisible one that doesn't block the scenery? Nope, I just don't have enough money for safety measures. Trex decking is super expensive and I don't have any kids to fall off the stairs. If the cats or dogs fell, oh well, they would be less expensive to replace than the cost of those hand rails. The only dog I care about is the one in the last picture (Leopold) and he's gone now because my wife sold him for money; she's in the dog slave trade business.

Help, I'm stuck on my porch!

My upper back porch is currently 9' above my lower back porch without any means of getting from one porch to the other. And who wants a lame set of "normal" stairs anyway. My first idea of a fireman pole is a one way travel method and a rope just isn't conventional if you have a soda in one hand and a ballpark in the other. If I was a little more innovative, I would have gone Swiss Family Robinson, but I settled on modern style with practical functionality.

The pictures above depict the landing that I am currently working on. The structural members are not randomly place, as one with an untrained eye would assume. There is one right angle, two equivalent obtuse angles and one acute angle. There are no parallel lines. Anyone remember geometry? Can you guess the official name of this polygon? Is is a parallelogram, trapezoid, quadrilateral, or a rhombus? Take the quiz.

Now I know that many of you are worried about the success of this project and can't though the dense fog in front of us, but let your hearts not be troubled, for I, Dustin, am your commander in chief of this operation and I have 20/20 talent. So let your minds at ease, and we will persevere.