What I did at my house today...

[phil]

when I did my roofing I re-used the lead flashing around the sewer vent and the other smaller 2 vent pipes.

last winter during hard rains I had a little trickle of water in the basement. The lead flashing doesn't come up above the vent pipe, so the pipe gets wet and the water runs down between the lead and the flashing.

Lead flashing is great but it is becoming obsolete anyway. there should be caps to prevent the leaking described above.

I bought some lead caps that are made for that , but drats. The two little ones were too big to fit the vent pipes right and the biggest one wasn't big enough to work.

so for the bigger one, I used some brass shimstock and wrapped it like a funnel, soldered it together and that made a sort of tapered part to fit around the lead , then soldered a brass bracket to hold a lid above it. I found an old copper candy dish and used that for the lid. I put a copper nail on top to deter birds. It looks like it will work.

I also mounted my TV digital antennas on the roof. I have signals from the south , Seattle, Bellingham and to the north are the Canadian antennas, so I get a few stations. I mounted two on one pipe so it can point both ways, at least in theory. One is supposed to rotate but it is so cheaply made i dont have a lot of faith in the thing.. and the other is pointed south, it is supposed to cover greater distance.
It's basically lots of commercials of course but I like to get the local news that way. I cut the television cable quite a while back.

I was going to attach them to the chimney but I ended up putting them on the little roof above my entrance and braced it against the upper part of the roof. I used a hunk from a roof jack to base the pipe on and made a brass U bracket and a block of wood to hold the top part firmly against the fascia board.
Its not the prettiest "feature" but I can turn the pipe from the bedroom window. If I really mess with it I could figure out where to point it for best reception of each channel. there is a good Japanese one but it is off at some other angle.
there is a website called "TV fool" if you try that you can put your address and get info on where to target your antenna. It at least gives an idea what you might expect to get in your area and what direction they will come from. Im a little confused between real north and magnetic north and the north my cell phone locates. I can find the north star, is that true north?

if I put the TV on the station I want , it seems to have a signal strength meter so i can tweak the position and get it pointed best that way but every station is a little different.

If I had put it against my chimney then it would be harder to target and I couldn't move it to receive those stations at different angles. its best if you can see the signal strength while turning it around. I figured I could use a cell phone pointed at the TV and a second cell phone using something like facetime so I could see the TV screen. otherwise you get someone to yell at you when it looks good. doing this reminds me of being a kid and us doing the same thing with the older antennas.
combining the two signals is a little hit and miss as they can do weird stuff like cancel and interfere with each other but It seems that what I do get is clear and high definition.
to take things a step further I could target individual antennas and set up a switch to select different antennas and you can boost the signal strength or even use equipment to select certain frequencies and block others. I figure I dont need to be too scientific about it. They work better than the indoor models.
My brother gave me one of the antennas and the other and the pole I got free from craigslist. I think you can order them online for about $30 - 50 or so.

[phil]

I had built some fir front steps a few years ago. I used a clear finish , water based stuff made by Bohme. I did 3 coats.

https://nontoxicpaintsupply.com/bohme-e ... -coatings/

It doesnt; smell bad. it didn't peel. Its like painting with water so it also doesn't really fill cracks. I gave it a second coat yesterday. I might have to paint them eventually , then I can fill the cracks that have naturally opened up a little. i dont know if it is compatible with paint, maybe it will be ok in a year or two though. I can always sand a little. it probably wont hurt them to season a little before they see paint. They are uncovered and see full rain, snow etc. instead of buying lumber I got some full dimension 2 inch material from a little mill and planed it myself, so being extra thick might help. the old staircase lasted 90 years without cover. eventually the stringers rotted but that old fir sure was better than the stuff we see in the lumberyards now.

[Gothichome]

What I did this past weekend. Well, I finished up the trim repairs and crack filling on the front door project and shovelled 2 1/2 ton of pea gravel down into my gabion stone cages at the bottom of my bank. Just received another 7 ton of gabion stone. Now I need to make more cages.

[phil]

Today I learned what gabion stone was
Sounds like a workout ! but at least it isn't pointless exercise like weight lifting in a gym.

[Gothichome]

It is a work out.

[Manalto]

...pointless exercise like weight lifting in a gym.

At my gym, the exercise machines are hooked up to a generator which provides electricity for our smoking lounge.

[awomanwithahammer]

Wait...what?

[Jeepnstein]

...pointless exercise like weight lifting in a gym.

At my gym, the exercise machines are hooked up to a generator which provides electricity for our smoking lounge.

Any electrical system is always just a statement of priorities.

[phil]

If I had a dollar for every time I heard that one I could buy you a coffee, if I could find where to buy a coffee for a dollar.

[phil]

did a little work on my longest baseboard for the living room.
it had outlet holes in it but I moved all of those up higher. so I cut a few pieces out. I also added some strips on the backside to space them out from the wall a bit more in case I want to add wainscot later. It also helped hold the pieces together.

now I have this crazy long baseboard, made of about 4 pieces. it must be 20 feet. I turned it over and one of the joints wasn't closed. it's hard to get a lot of strength with the butt joint. I didn't want to fill the joint with epoxy because that would show so I added a strip of maple down the middle on the back. It wont be seen when installed. Now it's stronger and I can finish filling the little cracks and stuff. If I can get past that long one all the others are shorter and they wont occupy the length of my shop so much. I could have done this one in two sections I just didn't want the joint to be too obvious.

I still have all the casings and other baseboards off from the living room so I have to focus on finishing them all and putting that all back before I start a bunch more projects. I got most of the paint off already but they need a good sanding so I can finish them. Its so easy to get projects stacked up so i am trying to go around and finish all the little things I started before my roof took precedence.

I had a Mitchel radio lamp. It looks like a rocket ship and I replaced the caps and resistors , the case had some cracks and needed a few touch up so I had done that. i started putting it back together and decided I'll align it as well. I have to tidy up my radio room so I can have bench space again to do that because it should be away from metal tables and such.
Its a little procedure that I need to follow then when it is aligned it will get better reception. basically I inject some different frequencies from a signal generator and tune some pots to get it aligned correctly.
here's a website that explains more about this somewhat rare radio.
https://www.antiqueradio.org/MitchellLu ... pRadio.htm

since AM is boring I made a little contraption that i can tune to FM and it will sort of rebroadcast that over AM to sets nearby. there are little broadcast units you can build to do that. a lot of people like to stream media from other sources like MP3 players or phones or internet stations , then the old radios can have something more interesting to receive and they become a bit more fun to play with than just listening to the traffic report. Some like to stream music that is fitting for them like old radios shows or older music.

I have an 88 volvo wagon. I really liked it but 3 years ago It gave me trouble. I bought a couple of spare parts cars so I can switch parts. Yesterday I pulled out one of the fuel pumps from another car and hooked it up with the hose in a can of gas. then it actually started and ran fine during my test, which proved I'm finally on the right track . so I started installing the borrowed fuel pump. Its under the car so a bit of an awkward place but I'm determined to get it working.
it was so exciting to see it finally start after I had it not working for so long and thinking the whole time about why it refused to start.
I took apart some of the inside so I could get to the wiring , I found it has 9 volts going to the old pump when it's cranking.
maybe the starter drags the voltage down a bit while cranking, that might be sort of normal. I proved Either the pump is dead or maybe the filter was just completely plugged. the filter is mounted under the car near the pump. Ill put the other one in as a test. If all goes well and I plan to drive it I might spring for a new pump and filter. I usually haven't been cheap with parts but with corona virus and so many laid off Its a time to be thrifty. I dont really mind buying the necessary parts because at least I dont have car payments of any major expenses. a lot of older car parts seem to be falling in cost through places like rock auto so I can usually get most of the parts I need online at a fraction of what they used to cost. I think for some the stock isn't turning over so they reduce pricing to move it because they will get stuck with parts for old cars if no one keeps fixing them. other stuff is just cheap because producers in china are making mass production knock off parts.

I was able to defer my taxes. we have a government program and now Im 55 I can enter it. they basically put the house tax into a loan with fair interest. If I sell the house or die then the house taxes owing have to be paid. until then it's not a cost I need to worry about and since I dont have kids it makes sense for me to do , helps keep me liquid. while I do that the house will still probably go up. prices haven't fallen any so far through the corona virus issues. the more it goes up, the higher the taxes are.

I got really tired of having too many cars around that dont run, but one of the cars I bought for parts might be promising. I got two blue sedans and they are both the same essentially. The better of the two needed a windshield and my brother said I can have the one from one of his parts cars. the headliner fell , they always seem to at that age. it had a little issue with the oil wanting to push the dipstick out so I think the flame trap is plugged. It still runs plus I have the other for parts and I think the engine is basically fine in both of them. I'll scrap the other. I dont have a garage to pull the engine in but I have a chain block. I might just make a teepee to hook my chainblock to pull the engine from the one I am scrapping. i dont really want my place to look like an auto wrecker but if I plan things I can get the ones working that I keep and be left with a cache of often needed parts. at least then I can reorganize them and wash them. keep all the tires filled up. If anyone complains about me having too many cars or if I need them I can insure them. Id like to find n old pickup , like about a 1952 chev or maybe a ford or an international of the same era. but they seem to be going up in value and all the ones people work on get taken apart , lowered and bastardized. There just aren't a lot of old original ones left. I have a friend with an older Porsche that offered to sell it to me for 2K. I think it has a similar no start condition but looks like it could be fun.
I dont mind keeping them if they all work then I can just switch cars if one dies during winter. I could buy a newer car but i like the older ones, I can fix them and keep them going if I have parts. It used to be it was just a trip to a wrecker to pull parts but I think they got so old that the wreckers dont seem to have many to get parts from. running 30 year old cars is a challenge but it's fun to see how long I can go without actually buying a car that already works


I fixed a latch for my bedroom window. the handle came off and it had a washer and the shank was staved in place so i just had to put it back together and use a centerpunch to peen it out a bit so the washer cant' come off. that worked so I can lock it again.

I want o do more woodworking and now I have a dust collector that I can hook my tablesaw to I might be able to do more in the winter. my shop got so crowded with wood and projects that I couldn't move so Ive been trying to put things back in order so I can do stuff again. I have a bunch of fir planks and stuff. I want to make some square tapered pieces to fill in my porch railings. I need 100 or so. If I do that I can use up some of the wood I've had in the shop dry and covered for the project. I just have to make a simple jig to hold them at a slight angle and start ripping all the boards into a tapered shape. I got ahold of a box of free metal post things, they are anodized aluminum. I decided wood will fit the style of the house better. its a trade off between privacy and not being able to see through the porch railings. the metal bars are less visible but then I feel like its less private. I could put some siding instead but then it feels a bit too closed in. This should be a bit of a trade off as it will block a bit but I can still see through to the yard from the kitchen window.
I thought if they were all about a 1/4 inch bigger at the bottom than the top it would have some style and not be so out of place. the minimum gap is 10 mm apart, so kid can't stick his neck through. I thought I might put them closer , like about 3" apart. I guess they could be tapered both ways so they would be square but smaller at the top and bottom than at the middle.