The Super Official Homeowners Thread

[JPolen01]

Very nice (borat voice)

[.RJ]

My house a splode

[JPolen01]

Have they been doing wiring or plumbing? Doesn't look like much progress except the tile is (almost) gone.

[Sijray21]

Have they been doing wiring or plumbing? Doesn't look like much progress except the tile is (almost) gone.

Kitchen Renos look like that for a bit as prep for cabinetry, fixtures, and flooring take maybe a week to go in. I think when i did my kitchen reno 2 years ago my kitchen looked like that for about 2-3 weeks of the 5 week total work time (one contractor). We did an expansion for an opening and added an external window, so if anything structural is happening it'll look like that for a while.

[Deceus]

Finally getting around to getting a bigger desk for my home office. The room I'm using is a very awkward shape, basically it's just a wide walkway with 2 small dens. One looks like it was designed to hold a crib and the other a feeding area. At least that's what the previous owners did with it.

I've been rocking some generic $100 L-shaped desk from Amazon for a while now but I'm running out of room. There's some room to grow but I can't seem to find anything that fits well. It seems most larger desks are just really large corners or built with a cubicle in mind. I found a few U-shaped desks that may have worked aside from being a pain to get in/out of but they were all in the ballpark for $750 and not even that nice looking.

Soooooooo I got to work in paint after watching a few YouTube videos just to get an idea of what could be done easily... aaaannnnddddd $220 in lumber and $175 in tools later I now have yet another project I don't need sitting in my basement.



Can't quite do the full 3/4 thing since the area is too narrow for that but I'm thinking of just making the shorter side a bookshelf and ditching the one I have.



Gonna use 3/4" plywood for it all so it should be pretty solid. Going to join it with pocket screws so it can go up in pieces. Used oak for the desktop since I was able to design it using only a piece of 4'x8' and a 2'x4' for small side. Wasn't too painful. Went with the cheap stuff for the sides since most of it going against the wall. Not quite sure how I'm handling the finish yet. Leaning towards just painting the sides black and just going with a darkish stain + poly for the top. Input is welcome since this is like my second ever woodworking project.

[JPolen01]

#Madisonfurnituresports

Props for creating a solution on your own. That portion jutting out on the top left looks like you will crash your chair into no less than 7 times per day. Is that part really necessary? It looks much smaller in the rendering than it does in the sketch.

[Deceus]

#Madisonfurnituresports

Props for creating a solution on your own. That portion jutting out on the top left looks like you will crash your chair into no less than 7 times per day. Is that part really necessary? It looks much smaller in the rendering than it does in the sketch.

Yeah I've gone back and forth with it. The design should work with or without it. Since it's entirely on another board it shouldn't be too hard to exclude if it comes down to it. This design should allow me to sit a lot closer to far right corner so it'll mostly be at my back. Even where I sit now I'm usually 15-16" away from the wall so it should work.

[.RJ]

Have they been doing wiring or plumbing? Doesn't look like much progress except the tile is (almost) gone.

Not yet.  Progress up to this point is cabinet removal, wall/drywall removal, and most of the floor removal.  Taking up all the slate took up almost a whole day and I suspect the wood comes up in 2 hours.  

We are also on our 3rd plumber and 2nd HVAC company because the GC didnt like what he was getting from the first round of subs.  I'm glad this is not my circus to deal with.  In theory, plumbing (moving sink lines/drain) and HVAC (moving a return duct into the chimney framing) should be happening this week and next week should be electrical (installing LED can lights, moving switches and outlets) and drywall/painting.

We have a few decisions left to make and we're hoping to nail them down this week and be done with making decisions and spending money.

---

For the desk, be careful with pocket screws. They dont create a very rigid joint so if you are trying to construct something the same way you would with dados, rabbets, etc, you will not have a strong structure.

[Deceus]

For the desk, be careful with pocket screws.  They dont create a very rigid joint so if you are trying to construct something the same way you would with dados, rabbets, etc, you will not have a strong structure.

Yeah I've learned that lesson already. I'm not overly impressed with them with regards to joining large pieces of plywood. I'll tie the sides and desktop together with some brackets and probably add a few corner shelves for stability. If it's still wobbly I'll just start running 2" screws everywhere. I'll give up a clean looking surface for stability.

[.RJ]

A plywood back, glued and nailed will add enough strength. With traditional cabinet methods you wouldnt need this and the back is just for vanity.

[Apoc]

Finally got to put our generator to use in earnest, thanks to a recent snow storm. I have to admit I was unprepared and the generator was stashed in the back of the garage - a garage with no interior door and and electric main door. A coat hanger to get in the garage and jumper pack to start the 911 later, we had heat and light. A transfer switch would be easier, but they generally require 240v and our generator only does 120v. At some point I'll probably upgrade, but we've only lost power once in the four years I've owned the generator so I'm not in a rush. We had no hot water because they require 240v, but 3300 wattage was enough to run what we needed. We're supposed to get the "biggest snow event in decades" over the next five days, so I may be hooking this thing up to our microwave and/or stove. 

[ScottyB]

For the desk, be careful with pocket screws.  They dont create a very rigid joint so if you are trying to construct something the same way you would with dados, rabbets, etc, you will not have a strong structure.

Yeah I've learned that lesson already. I'm not overly impressed with them with regards to joining large pieces of plywood. I'll tie the sides and desktop together with some brackets and probably add a few corner shelves for stability. If it's still wobbly I'll just start running 2" screws everywhere. I'll give up a clean looking surface for stability.

pocket screws + Titebond III.  that'll take care of any flex, i promise. the catch is you HAVE to clamp any glued surface or at least ensure some weight is on it.

got so pissed about the clutter in my son's play area i built this over the weekend from pine shelving at HD with cheap poly on top cut 50/50 with thinner.  the desk surface is the top from his old play table.  the backing is cheap cedar pickets with a "vintage blue" that dries half opaque.  cheapest undercabinet LED light i could find.  pocket screws+glue everywhere because it was easy.  i figure it'll give us 3-4 years of use as a desk if we move the desk surface up to the next cutout as he grows.



its a 10 footer.  overdid it on some wood filler and i still have to install drawers in the bottom partition.  but man it felt so good to get all the plastic whatevers off the floor.

[JPolen01]

That looks good from here! Battery operated under cabinet lighting or did you actually wire them up to a switch?

[ScottyB]

That looks good from here! Battery operated under cabinet lighting or did you actually wire them up to a switch?

Wired, it's got it own on/off switch on the unit

[Beej]

Dang, furniture accuracy on the wood, that looks great Scotty.  100% square all around, I'm sure.

[.RJ]

scotty is a master of the wood

[ScottyB]

Dang, furniture accuracy on the wood, that looks great Scotty.  100% square all around, I'm sure.

ha, square enough it sits straight, but lets just say some of the shelf gaps were creatively patched with wood filler. solution: keep the shelves full

scotty is a master of the wood

you guys should see my wood in the morning!  its really something

[Ryan T]

pocket screws + Titebond III.  that'll take care of any flex, i promise.  the catch is you HAVE to clamp any glued surface or at least ensure some weight is on it.

Pocket screws are a life saver. I built some shelves in my moms garage that were 18' long x 7' high. I bought a pocket kreg jig from Lowes for like $20 and it was a real time saver. I've found myself using it a lot since I bought it.

[JPolen01]

Kreg jig is awesome! What a time saver.

[Sully]

I use pocket screws all the time. I have the pocket jig too. I'd really love the bench top model. Feel like it'd save so much time when doing pocket screws

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