Killing time in a small "2 car" garage

[BoilermakerFan]

That stinks about the work table, can it be repurposed or is it totally no go?

Glad you missed the "fun" weather. Sounds like it was pretty wild in the middle of the country. I think my wife gave up on all of the remaining leftovers and pitched them. And what Strouty said?

I pitched the last of the regular pies yesterday. My household, except for me, isn't really big on sweets so they didn't eat the rest of the pecan or pumpkin pies. The pecan pie looked fine, the pumpkin pie was moldy.


The work table was built from salvaged 2x4s, 2x6s, and 6x6s. I assembled it with Torx drive wood screws so it it totally salvageable, even if the 2x4s are just used to add an interesting finish on part of a wall. I'll probably use them behind my dart board. I'll just sand them a little again and finish them in different shades of Danish Oil. The 2x6s will be used to brace up the last part of my ceiling for more loft storage space.

Right now it's just being used as a 2-1/2' x 7-1/2' storage/work bench. I'm just going to break down and order a true motorcycle lift sometime next summer. Since I'm going to be here for another 5 years now, I need it before we move.

Sunday I didn't get back out in the garage. Had other Honey-Dos to take care of, then my son and I went ice skating. He has a field trip in a week and half to go ice skating and he wanted to get some skating lessons and practice in before the field trip. I've been ice skating for over 30 years and have easily taught over 50 people how to skate. I had my daughter in hockey skates before she was 3 years old. She's almost 20 now and still gets a kick out of the fact that she can out skate most of her guy friends and they can't believe she skates in hockey skates. My son fought me about skating for the last 10 years, so usually just my daughter and I would go. So the fact that my son asked to go and asked for lessons blew me away. We had a great time, but my feet and ankles are killing me now. it's time to retire my 31 year old skates... I'll be getting myself a nice new pair for Christmas or right after. I plan to tie my old skates together and hang them in my gentleman's lounge when I have that.

And NASP archery team season is now upon us. So I'll be busy a couple weekends a month from January through May. Oh, and Box Lacrosse starts Jan. 5 on Saturday mornings, then regular lacrosse starts in March.

My goal is to just get a little done in the garage in the evenings I have free and on the weekends whenever I can, even if it's literally just insulating behind and hanging one piece of plywood. But first I have to make room in the garage so I can work on the CX500 and KZ650. I need to order the exhaust and ignition for the KZ650, then have my spare head reworked and get KZ750 cams put in it. I won't have to pull the engine from the KZ for that so I'll also rebuild the fork and replace the shocks on the KZ before I tear down the CX500. I have to remove the engine on the CX to replace the ignition and I'm having a set of spare heads rebuilt with larger intake valves and stiffer springs so it will have a true 10K redline instead of the stock 9700rpm. When I do that I'll have the frame and fenders powdercoated, swap the new fork and wheels over, then work on a new seat pan or seat sub-frame. The CX will be out of commission for a while so I have to get the KZ650 running before I tear down the CX.

I'm putting the GL1100 project on hold for now. I discovered I need a few more pieces that I don't have but should be able to get from my salvage yard. But mostly it's going on hold to put the funds towards the other two bikes. I want to get those two bikes finished before I really start on the GL1100. I'm also going to be heading out to California on business in January, so I plan to stop by a couple salvage yards out there to track down the correct gas tank for my KZ650 and hopefully a titled CB650 Nighthawk frame.

 

[xtremek]

Just keep chipping away at your space.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

That's the plan...

I have some pics to edit and then I'll post some updates on all the stuff going on...

Tonight I was playing Fortnite grinding away on my son's account to complete a few more challenges for him before the season ended. The game has seasons that are 10 weeks long. I pretty much finished all my stuff last weekend so I've been playing on his account to help him along. He hates that way I play... I'm "too slow" for him, but I get results and my averages are better than his even though he's been playing a lot longer than I have. I think I've been play for less than 24 weeks. It took me all of season five to just get the hang of the game. Season six just ended and Season seven launches on Thursday.

After I got bored playing around 11:30pm I jumped on GJ and got caught up on all the threads I follow. Time to head to bed now that I'm finally tired.

 

[Strouty]

What the hell is this fortnite disease everyone is talking about?

 

[BoilermakerFan]

What the hell is this fortnite disease everyone is talking about?

It's an online video game. There are 2 modes, but the one most people play is Battle Royale, but I bought the Save The World version. The Battle Royale version is free to play, but it does cost about $10-$15 per season if you want to get all the rewards. 100 players in either solo, duo, or squad fight till elimination. Last group or person wins. I may have spent a few dollars in the game...


This is as far as I made it this season:

There are Tiers for the Battle Pass to unlock cosmetic things and they also award you their Vbucks which are used to buy cosmetic items... outfits, gliders, emotes, etc. The max Level is 100, but it gets exponentially harder to level up.

Each Season has a special skin that you can try to unlock by completing all of the challenges for a given week in the season. It's really damn hard to do. This season you had to complete 7 out of 10 weeks to unlock the skin. That goofy robot was the skin. My son is salty that I unlocked it. Only two of friends out of the 5 that play regularly managed to unlock the skin this season.

It amuses me to no end when my son complains or makes fun of the way I play, but then asks me to play on his account to complete challenges he can't get done on his own. Haters gonna hate, but they be takin' notes!

For example, he's lousy with a pistol in the game, but I love the pistols. I can get eliminations with pistols faster than shotguns. They used to have dual pistols in the game... basically Colt GI 45ACPs. 8 rounds per gun and they both shot each time you fired. Land 3 hits and the opponent was eliminated, whether they had full shields or not... They took them out of the game. So my KR dropped significantly after that.


At first I thought it was a pretty stupid game. Very unrealistic. Shields? An island full of weapons? Gliders you can only deploy at certain times? Almost every kid in middle school plays it, and high school... and college. My college students would play it all the time. The thing that I actually found neat about it is how many middle school girls play it. My son plays with a group of friends from school and I think out of the 7 he regularly plays with, 2 are girls... one is his girlfriend. And when she has a good connection, she flat owns us both. The only way we can prevail over her is when she has a lot of lag. I fought it, I made fun of the game, I hated hearing about it CONSTANTLY. Then I relented and signed up. It has a lot of things that annoy me, but now the kids at archery talk to me about Fortnite and I listen... and then they listen to me when I coach them. And I make fun of myself when I talk about it. I've never won a solo match but have placed second over 25% of the time I play. I just don't have fast enough hand/eye coordination any more.

So I play as this character a lot:

Because he's old and has a grey beard!

 

[Strouty]

I used to play video games, but I am not very good at all these new fangled games. After about three buttons, I get confused too easily. I am more of an Atari 2600 or NES guy. Don't get me wrong, I have played newer games, they just don't usually get me super involved. I do like a good tower defense type game, but I have never played an online game against other people, just games that were played in the same room with multiple people.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Season 7 launched yesterday. I updated the game in the morning and played a little over lunch in a non-competitive mode to get a feel for the changes. Last night I had archery team practice so I didn't get to play until after 8:30pm.

But I managed to complete 4 of the 7 challenges for the week in 3 hours of time.

And my son is salty again because I'm already Level 13 and Tier 37. LOL!

I use a xBox controller on my laptop to play the game. Technically, I should be better off using the keyboard and my gaming mouse, but the controller is much easier for me even though it is slower. I could probably add a dedicated keyboard or gaming pad for better results, but it's just not that important to me.



In garage related news, I'm salty! Home Depot quit carrying the 30" Milwaukee tool chest and the 46" base only chest . I'm chapped because I don't have a lot of floor space and I was going to put the 30" top chest on the 46" base, then buy the ZT Fab welding bottle kit for the bottom chest. My welder would have sat perfectly on the 16" open space. Then I was going to hang New Wave wall cabinets over the tool chest and over my steel workbench.

So now I have to circle my wagons and figure out a new plan for my tool chest. My beef is that all of the other tool chests that match the quality of the Milwaukee setup are more expensive or an ugly DeWalt yellow. I don't dislike DeWalt tools, but the DeWalt tool chest is made by the same manufacturer as the Milwaukee chest, but it's that hideous bright yellow. Nothing I have is yellow. And I don't feel like sandblasting it to have it refinished. Lowes changed their tool chest lines when they brought in the Craftsman line so I need to go there and evaluate them.

It's probably a mute point right now anyway, I don't have the funds or the room in the garage for the tool chests. I'm just frustrated because i had my plan and now it's tossed out the window. I am going to stop by Lowes this evening and pick up some insulation so I can at least start hanging some plywood...

I'm in a worse spot than you are Strouty. I need to move stuff out of the garage to easily put up the plywood, then buy the wall cabinets so I can dismantle my open metal shelving. I can't finish my ceiling until that's done. The problem is I have nowhere to put my stuff that needs to be moved away from the walls. The weather is **** now and I don't have secure storage outside.

So I guess for now I can partially do a couple areas of the garage. I think I can hang about 8' of plywood on the front of my two side walls and on the ceiling at the front. But I have to move all of the plywood and a bunch of stuff to get access to those areas. I'll have to move things about five times to make any progress. That's a frustrating thought so I haven't tried to tackle any of it yet.

I'd love to just rent a big box truck and an offsite storage garage, haul everything in the way over there and keep it stored for 2 months, but I know that would drag out to 6 months and lots of trips back and forth. ******* away good money in the process while feeling like I would just be going

over...

 

[Bob Heine]

BF, if you have room to park a cargo trailer, it could be a temporary solution to your storage problem. Buy the trailer, use it for as long as needed and sell it. I did a quick Craigslist search and saw this:

https://bloomington.craigslist.org/tro/d/wired-for-electricity-tie/6748409723.html

 

[xtremek]

Pods?

 

[BoilermakerFan]

A cargo trailer would be sweet, but my backyard is approaching Sandford & Sons already... and I don't really have room for one at this house since we have the popup camper. My driveway is actually long enough to get a cargo trailer in front of the garage door, but a 90deg turn and fencing makes it impossible to maneuver it where it needs to be. I can only back the camper straight back through the gate.

Hopefully next summer the fence is being redone so I'll have a little more room, but even then, it's really tight. My neighbor's house is right next to ours and her garage is right at the end of her driveway. Our driveways are right next to each other so it looks like one standard 2-car wide driveway; however, both houses are right on the driveways. So they're only 20' apart.

We looked for PODS and they aren't in Evansville so we would have to pay to have one hauled from 2-3 hours away. Too expensive. I thought about renting/leasing a 20' container from Evansville, but the truck can't fit through the fence and I don't want it taking up my parking space... and SWMBO said no. Too ugly.

 

[Strouty]

Sounds like you might have to sacrifice the shop for the shop. I would jam everything to one side and get working on the insulation. It will be well worth it when you are done, especially since you are now staying there.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Sounds like you might have to sacrifice the shop for the shop. I would jam everything to one side and get working on the insulation. It will be well worth it when you are done, especially since you are now staying there.

Yeah, we're here for 5 more years so I need to get crackin'. I need to pick up a three rolls of 24" wide R19 and six rolls of 16" wide R13. I might double it since our utility is offering a 40% rebate and I can claim it on my state taxes too. But that will allow me to insulate the first 8' of the ceiling by the OHD and the walls on the front half of the garage. Then I can put up the plywood. That will get about 45% of the garage done. I'll use the 2x6 frame of the work table to brace the back 4' of the garage ceiling so I can put down the 3/4" plywood for storage loft at that end which will finish all the decking in the loft and allow me to put up the 1/4" ply for the ceiling.

My plan is to at least make some progress on it this weekend. I'll have to reroute some electric wires and box in around some conduit on one wall, but that shouldn't prevent me from putting in the insulation. I also need to swap out my small MLO electric panel for a bigger one. I need to add 2-3 more double pole breakers and I'm out of space. Luckily those are inexpensive and the way my panel is wired will make it easy to do the swap during the daylight.

After I do that, that would just leave the very middle 4' to finish, which I'm planning to do as a "vaulted" ceiling just to add some visual interest to the space. I need to figure out the best way to finish it off since I need to insulate the underside of the actual roof. I know I need to use those air duct pieces so air can move from the soffet vents up to the ridge, but I don't have a ridge vent installed yet and I need a little dead air space at the very top to make it all work properly once I do add the ridge vent when I put a new roof on the garage. For the time being I will probably just put up the 1/4" plywood over the whole area like a regular flat ceiling so I don't lose my heat this winter, then take that down in the spring and finish it off then.


And I did find a potential solution to my tool chest problem... HD has Husky chests that I think are made by the same manf. as the Milwaukee chests... very similar at least. They are a matte black finish and Gladiator has matte black wall cabinets so that would at least look ok. I still haven't been by Lowes to really look at the Craftsman 2000 series either. Lowes has a Sa-Weet 3000 series tool chest lower in white and black, but no uppers to match... not even close, so that really ***** because that chest would be absolutely perfect for my needs.

Oh well, I'll worry about that later once I'm actually ready to make a purchase, which realistically is at least 6 months out.


Last week I was traveling for work. I drove up to Chicago on Monday the 10th. That night I picked up a new pair of hockey skates and got them fitted and setup for me. My second pair of skates and i can't wait to skate in them, but SWMBO said I don't get to skate in them until after Christmas. Then Tuesday night I drove to Holland, MI for sales calls and company meetings. Friday I drove home and picked up my daughter from Purdue. Stopped in Indy on the way home to pick up some new lacrosse gear for my son for Christmas. And then I've pretty much been buried since. All of my clients are trying to get everything done this week since most everyone will out until after New Year's, including our engineers and my clients.

I took a half day vaca today to help out on a school field trip for my son's class. The entire 7th grade went ice skating. I think I tied 30 pairs of skates. I have two intact blisters and two ripped open while I was tying up skates. I know about 2/3 of the kids in the class so the teachers were glad I came out to help. My son was happy because I just let him do whatever he wanted on the ice with his friends... but he did come over to me a few times to get me to help teach his friends to skate better. The amusing part was that a couple of the jerkier boys asked me how I could skate so fast, but not with a crappy tone; it was one of surprise. Funny how experience and technique beats youth and ego in things like that. Then my son told them that I wasn't even skating as fast as I usually do because the rink guard kept telling me to slow down.

My original skates are 31 years old. They're shot... I only lasted about 90 minutes before I couldn't take it anymore and had to take the torture devices off my feet. I had planned on wearing my new skates... but we already covered that.

 

[Strouty]

Have a Merry Christmas!

 

[Bob Heine]

I hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Wishing you a nice insulated and warm "2 car" garage in the new year.

 

[xtremek]

Happy Christmas, I hope it's full of memories, and that your skates fit well.

 

[xtremek]

FYI, I finally can see your pics. It's my VPN that's been blocking them. I wonder why that is.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Have a Merry Christmas!

Thanks Strouty! We had a great Christmas. I hope you had a great Christmas too!

I hope you and yours have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Wishing you a nice insulated and warm "2 car" garage in the new year.

Thanks Bob! Merry Christmas to you as well! I'm looking forward to a warm garage too.

Happy Christmas, I hope it's full of memories, and that your skates fit well.

Thanks xtremek! It was a very good Christmas. I hope yours was enjoyable as well! My skates were custom fitted, so they definitely fit like a tailored suit.

FYI, I finally can see your pics. It's my VPN that's been blocking them. I wonder why that is.

Maybe because I'm using DropBox to host them?




We were supposed to be going up to Rochester Hills, MI for NYE to visit friends this year, but my M-I-L had an "emergency" and now my wife and kids are heading down to FL on the 26th. They'll be back on the 30th so we'll be going to spend NYE with friends here. It wasn't a true emergency, but my wife has to go down there and basically lay down the law with her mom about her health, diet, and inactive lifestyle... Part if this was because she was pissed we/they weren't going down there this year. My kids don't even want to go, but my wife needs my daughter to come along in case her back acts up on the long drive. My wife didn't want to let my son stay here since I have to work Wed. through Fri. So she bribed the kids with a day at Universal Studios.

I'm going to take advantage of them being gone and replace the black pipe plumbing in the basement with PEX. Basically going to rip out all the weird, poorly planned piping and streamline the layout when I replace it. Adding a whole house water filter right after the main shutoff in the house. Then I'll add inline valves that feed the lines that go up to the bathroom branches and the back outside faucet so that I can just shut those off this summer and replace them one at a time.

I'll be able to run the new main lines in the basement without having to shut off the water in the evenings during the week, but cleaning up everything on the unfinished side from the main inlet to the water heater will take a bit longer over the weekend. I've been waiting for everyone to be out of the house for a few days, so I'm taking advantage of the situation while I can.

I'm also planning to get to a few public ice skating sessions at the rink to break in my skates.

 

[xtremek]

It's a bummer about your wife and kids having to be gone, but mixed blessings as you say.

 

[Strouty]

Sounds like the perfect time to do the PEX project for sure.

My GF had a grandmother the was "dying" for several years, we all drove to Jersey for her "last" Christmas at least ten times.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Ah man Strouty, that's a trip... or ten.


I realized I've been slacking on some other updates and pics...

In early December my wife successfully completed her national Board Certification for Teaching:

This is a huge deal! It took her 2 years of a **** ton of work to achieve this. There is only one other teacher in the entire school district with this certification. The principal of my son's middle school has his Ph.D. and he told me to congratulate my wife on her achievement since the school district did press releases and posted it all over social media. My wife has her Masters in Education and this was harder and more work. It's basically like getting a national teaching license. It will allow her to get a teaching license in any state when we move, even though we plan to stay in Indiana for another 9-10 years, it's nice that she has it and it would help her move into more of an administration type position in MI or IL if we end up moving there after my son graduates college. We're not really planning to move out of Indiana, but moving to Holland/GH/GR in Michigan might make sense due to the bulk of my business being in those 3 cities.


Here's a pic of my new hockey skates... I already replaced the laces and the insoles:

I didn't make it to the mega public skating session today. It was from 10-2, but I had some work I had to do and I'm still fighting off a stomach bug. I thought I was in the clear, but it kind of came back for one last round this morning. I'll definitely catch one of the public sessions tomorrow or Friday.


We surprised my son with a pair of hockey skates too. After his school field trip he asked for a pair of skates, but he didn't think he would get them. I ran out and picked up a pair. I shaved off my beard yesterday and realized I've gotten a bit chubby. I have a freakin' double chin right now. I'm easily 30 pounds over weight, so the skates are great motivation for my son & I to go skating so I can get back in shape and start losing weight.


I took my daughter to a local music shop and she picked out a Ukulele for my son for his present from her. When we got in the car, she said she was jealous and really wanted one too. I ran back out and grabbed her one.

The really cool thing I discovered is that Kala who makes the Ukuleles is HQ'ed in Petaluma, CA. I have a very large client in Petaluma and I am going out to see them in late January. I'm definitely going by Kala for a factory tour when I'm out there!


For Christmas I received a couple Amazon gift cards and some cash... enough for me to be able to order a small Bluetooth amp for the garage to power my old Polk Audio S4 bookshelf speakers! I'm going to upgrade the crossovers on the S4s eventually, but for now I'll be able to have my Spotify tunes out in the garage on a much better sounding system.

My top pick is this one:

It can send a sub output to a powered sub so that will probably be added once I get the garage all buttoned up.

The other one I'm looking at has less power, but it's a 2.1 amp with connections for a passive sub. I'd have to build the sub since the only passive subs I've found are expensive and very large. But it's half the cost of the first one:

I bought my wife a Kenwood Excelon deck for her Honda Pilot. She wanted a new stereo since the Pilot doesn't have BT or any modern features. Her only other requirements were that she could use the steering wheel controls and a unit that could display the map from her iPhone on the screen, so I got one that can do both. I will eventually replace the speakers and sub in the Pilot, then add the back-up camera. I have to order the steering wheel adapter, the wiring harnesses, and install kit. I'm probably going to have my local shop do the install only because I don't feel like tearing down the Pilot to run the wires for microphone. The install and programming of the steering wheel adapter is pretty easy, but the mic will be a PITA. I'll also have them install the front separates, sub, and the back-up camera; but I can do the rear door speakers.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Oh, I almost forgot... I came across this barn shop in VT in Fine Woodworking's annual Tools & Shops 2019 magazine:

What I loved about it wasn't so much the size or the barn aspect, but how the building flowed. I could easily have my architect modify the basic concept to match the house and make the barn more like a guest bungalow in the same style as the house if we have to match styles! And most importantly, it would give me the ability to have a solid shop floor on the left with a basement under the main section on the right. It pretty much checks all the boxes for me. I'm sure it will evolve, but I'm so glad I just happened to pick up this magazine to browse through it. If we can have a barn in the backyard, I'll keep it looking like a barn, if I have to make it look like the house, it will look like the house... either way, I'd get my motorcycle shop, my gentlemen's lounge, cellar, storage loft, and guest quarters all in one building.

 

[Terranova]

Here's a pic of my new hockey skates... I already replaced the laces and the insoles:

I didn't make it to the mega public skating session today. It was from 10-2, but I had some work I had to do and I'm still fighting off a stomach bug. I thought I was in the clear, but it kind of came back for one last round this morning. I'll definitely catch one of the public sessions tomorrow or Friday.


We surprised my son with a pair of hockey skates too. After his school field trip he asked for a pair of skates, but he didn't think he would get them. I ran out and picked up a pair. I shaved off my beard yesterday and realized I've gotten a bit chubby. I have a freakin' double chin right now. I'm easily 30 pounds over weight, so the skates are great motivation for my son & I to go skating so I can get back in shape and start losing weight.

Getting out to play hockey one night a week in a house league has been key to me losing a few pounds.
Good luck!

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Getting out to play hockey one night a week in a house league has been key to me losing a few pounds.
Good luck!

Thanks. I made it to the public session tonight. Man, after skating in the same pair of skates for over 30 years, there is definitely an adjustment period! I had my runners contoured to be a forward lean to match my old CCM skates, but the new skates still feel like they are leaning back a bit. Next time I make it back to Chicago, I'm bringing my skates and having them contoured again with an even more aggressive forward lean. I did notice an immediate difference in the quality of the runner though. I had them sharpened to the same 3/8" hollow and the new skates definitely bite more. I could easily hear it on the ice. And I had my runners taken down to an 11' radius from the stock 9' radius. I think my old skates had a 13' radius! I could turn a lot sharper in the new skates. That was a good thing during tonight's public session... too many tools trying to show off for their girl friends thinking they could skate well and skate fast. The idiots would get going quickly, but then couldn't keep their balance or line... I was dodging the same few tools all night. I finally asked the rink guard if I could just hip check them since they were old enough to know better. She said give them a warning and tell them they were fair game after that. Sometimes it's nice being the old guy on the ice.

Once I adjust to the new skates and get more in shape, they're going to be fantastic. That said, I'm too old to play in a hockey league, even if it's a beer league. I could join, but I'd be paying for it all week long, or worse, my back would just seize up.

 

[xtremek]

Sounds like the skate night was still a lot of fun. Good luck with the PEX this week.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Happy New Year GJ family!

So, I didn't have much vacation time banked since I have to accrue it and I started my new career in August... that meant I had to work the week after Christmas. I was actually busy. Most of my clients and our engineers were out, but I cover a huge territory so there were still a lot of clients working to get things wrapped up by the end of the year.

I finally made it to Lowes on Friday night to start gathering the PEX materials:

It was kind of scary how much that little cart of materials cost! And... most of it was returned. I bought bulk coils of 1/2" instead of 3/4" and 1" for the main inlet plumbing. Once I was home and really looked at my main water line, I realized that the inlet is 1", but it immediately drops to 3/4" at the shut off valve. I had also read the PEX sections in 2 plumbing books at Lowes and decided that for us, we need the water pressure and flow above all else, so the old Trunk & Branch layout is the best for that. Another advantage is that it is significantly easier and cheaper to put in.

I did pick up a whole house sediment filter. Our city water is so old it's full of rust and scale. I didn't see the point of putting in all new supply lines only to have the rust still clogging all my faucets, refrigerator, dishwasher and washing machine. Our outside water spigots just branch off the main lines, so I'm going to plumb those on a dedicated line that tees off the main before the water filter. No point to burning through the filters while watering the yard or spraying off the patio.

When I got home that Friday night I really looked at my existing plumbing. What a kludge. So many fittings and 90s, so much pipe that has no reason to be there... So the new system is going to be significantly streamlined, but removing the old iron pipe is going to ****! I really have to figure out the best ways to rip it out without making huge messes. The good news is that I can pre-install a lot of the new plumbing without breaking into the existing lines and eliminate a lot of 90deg fittings that cause big pressure drops (an advantage of selling fluid power systems for years is that I know fittings **** and 90s cause big pressure drops). I'm going to do the upgrades in phases. The main reason for this is because I don't want to tear into my walls right now for the vertical runs. I really only have one major one that goes up to the second story, so that's a huge bonus (and it has a big access panel behind the tub already), but the first floor bath is still going to need the vanity removed and 2 big sections of wall cut out.

So my plan is to run the main trunks in the basement, then just use NPT adapters to tie into the horizontal trunk before the vertical rises. Fortunately, because of all the fittings in the existing plumbing, this will only cost me about 6 fittings that will eventually be replaced. $30 is a small price to pay for that convenience. I'll do the main water/cold water first, then the hot water side in the basement. The final section is the vertical runs and actual bathroom plumbing.

My water heater has copper stubs but they were put in half-a$$ed and they didn't meet the 18" minimum for PEX. I wasn't looking forward to redoing that. Then I went to HD yesterday to look for a 50' roll of white PEX for the outside spigots and HD had 24" flexible water heater connections with SharkBite push-on fittings. The best part was they were cheaper than any other options! So now I have my water heater connections taken care of.

Yesterday my wife and I ran errands so I dropped her off at the stores she needed to go to and I went HD and Lowes. At Lowes I returned all of the stuff I didn't need with the new plan and picked up the correct materials. As mentioned, I also found the other materials I needed at HD that Lowes didn't have.

Here is my very expensive, small pile of materials that will cover about 90% of the total of what I will need:

In reality, it's about $700 worth of stuff. A bargain compared to the quotes for $5K-$6K from plumbers to do all the work that we received 8 years ago. Plus, the crimp ring tool was $70, the whole house water filter was $100, and the two outside spigots were $70 total. My front spigot split behind the valve so it doesn't leak, but can't be used so it needed to be replaced anyway. The nice thing is, I'll have the ring crimp tool so when we finally move, I can replace plumbing or install radiant floor heating on my own. I'm mostly whining because it's just such a small pile of stuff. Then I remind myself that the effort will be so worth it!


Unfortunately, that cash dump meant I couldn't afford to buy any insulation for the garage, even though there was a 40% rebate from my utility that ended on 12/31 and the tax credit on my state taxes. I shopped the insulation and it still looks like the blown in cellulose is the most cost effective way to go. It's the most work for me, so I need to decide which way I'll go once I'm in a position where I could buy it. I'm hoping a new rebate will be offered and the tax credit should carry over since Indiana has offered it for the last 18 years. Either way, it will be done eventually, but for now I'm just going to focus on getting the walls and ceiling finished, even if it means I have to lift flooring in the storage loft, or drill holes/remove wall panels to blow in the cellulose later.


On a side topic, on Saturday a friend had invited me over to play a board game called Twilight Imperium. He just received the 4th Ed. and it really needs 6 to play. I've never been much of a RPG/strategy gamer, but since the wife and kids were gone I had the time. It's a HUGE game and we were warned it takes 8+ hours to play. We started at 1pm and by 8pm when one of the guy's KP expired we were only 30% or so done! The time had flown by. Man, what a fun game! I'm hooked. Since it was the first time playing for all of us, we all made a lot of strategic mistakes and that definitely added to length of time to play. The next time we're going to play we're starting early in the morning so we can have a good 10 hours or so to play and hopefully finish a game. If any of you guys play RPGs or board games, definitely check out TI. Or rather, find somebody who already has it. Crazy game is $150!

 

[Strouty]

Sounds like a good plan, I will be doing the same thing, except my walls can be gutted and the pipes I remove are all copper, hopefully I can get a decent amount for them when I scrap it all.

 

[xtremek]

VPN is working again, so no pics But I'm still here and it sounds you've got a big job ahead of you.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

How about as an attachment xtremek?

 

[BoilermakerFan]

I forgot to mention that my wife and I are doing our own little challenge in 2019. Specifically a push up challenge. We took very unflattering pics of ourselves yesterday before we started. Yesterday was just an AMRAP baseline. Today we did 5 sets and then we also threw in the Seven Minute app just to kill ourselves... Seriously. I'm so damn sore now. It's only day 2. I have 363 more days of this.

I really can't wait to see the progress we make over the next twelve months. I have no plans to share pics until I have some real results... and only of myself. Sorry guys.

 

[xtremek]

That's $700? I can see why you're disappointed.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

That's $700? I can see why you're disappointed.

Not including the NASP bow and bow case behind it!

Yeah, pretty close to $700... but that includes the water filter, two exterior petcock valves, crimping tool, and five 3/4" PEX ball valves. Those 4 items are about $300 of total.

 

[Kevkx125]

Thanks. I made it to the public session tonight. Man, after skating in the same pair of skates for over 30 years, there is definitely an adjustment period! I had my runners contoured to be a forward lean to match my old CCM skates, but the new skates still feel like they are leaning back a bit. Next time I make it back to Chicago, I'm bringing my skates and having them contoured again with an even more aggressive forward lean. I did notice an immediate difference in the quality of the runner though. I had them sharpened to the same 3/8" hollow and the new skates definitely bite more. I could easily hear it on the ice. And I had my runners taken down to an 11' radius from the stock 9' radius. I think my old skates had a 13' radius! I could turn a lot sharper in the new skates. That was a good thing during tonight's public session... too many tools trying to show off for their girl friends thinking they could skate well and skate fast. The idiots would get going quickly, but then couldn't keep their balance or line... I was dodging the same few tools all night. I finally asked the rink guard if I could just hip check them since they were old enough to know better. She said give them a warning and tell them they were fair game after that. Sometimes it's nice being the old guy on the ice.

Once I adjust to the new skates and get more in shape, they're going to be fantastic. That said, I'm too old to play in a hockey league, even if it's a beer league. I could join, but I'd be paying for it all week long, or worse, my back would just seize up.

I feel your pain I too had to buy new skates after a few decades in the old ones hopefully it won't take so long to break the new ones in. I was curios who else on here used ice skating as exercise.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

I feel your pain I too had to buy new skates after a few decades in the old ones hopefully it won't take so long to break the new ones in. I was curios who else on here used ice skating as exercise.

Definitely! My skates were baked twice so they don't really need a break in, it's the adjustment to a MUCH stiffer boot and the different feel of the holder/runner that will take me a few more sessions. I'm lucky in that our rink is open year round! Sometimes skating in the summer just feels so good!

I'm taking my son tomorrow night to the Friday night session. My daughter and at least one of her friends is coming too. One of her friends is Vietnamese and wants to learn how to skate, so I'll be teaching her how to skate tomorrow night. The new skates are a HUGE improvement when I have to basically stand on the ice or skate really slow. My old skates would cause pain within 2 minutes if I wasn't skating at a full stride.

While on the subject of exercise, my wife and I are 3 days in to our year long pushup "challenge". Wow, I'm sore! We've committed to doing them everyday, so tomorrow will be a light, low rep sets. Tonight we did manage to duplicate what we did yesterday so that was a big win for us. We're both sore from the Seven app today and since I'm skating tomorrow, I skipped Seven tonight. But I did my damn pushups!

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Our Friday night skate session was a blast. My son had 4 friends there that he didn't know were going to be there. My 20yo daughter had 3 friends there. So that meant dad could actually skate as fast as I wanted to without feeling guilty! It's going to take a few more sessions before I can really feel comfortable and trust my new skates. They are so much faster than my old skates. I was doing great until the end of the session. I'm just out of shape so I was getting tired. I almost fell 3 times near the end of the session. Mostly from the feeling of my new skates and that lack of faith or trust in the edges/balance. I'd start to feel like I was falling backwards or losing an edge, then I'd startle or over correct and almost fall. It's hard to explain unless you skate, then you guys who do skate will completely understand. The coolest part for me was skating with guys half my age. One guys played for our minor league hockey team. At first I thought he was kind of a jaghole, but he ended up being super cool. Saw a few other folks I skated with the first day I went too. Not buddies with them, but just nice to skate with a few folks at a pretty fast pace.


Yesterday my coworker buddy brought down an Infinity TSS-1100 powered subwoofer to me. It was crackling and I suspected the amp was failing. He bought a new Klipsch 18" reference sub, but he was going to pay me to fix it if it was an easy job.

I got home and pulled the amp:

It's toast. The PCB traces are even damaged in the smaller area. To add insult to injury, the amp plate is a really weird size so there is no drop in replacement.

On top of that, the cost for a new 250W plate amp is as much as whole new BIC/Acoustech PL-200 II 12" sub!

So I inherited the box and the 12" driver:

I found a little 100W RMS Class D sub amp for $100 that I think I will pick up to power the sub. I'll have to make a cover for the stock opening on the back and bring the speaker wires out to terminal posts, but for the garage when paired with a BT 2-ch Class D amp and my Polk S4 bookshelf speakers, it should be plenty good enough. And a nice upgrade over the mono JBL BT speaker I use now.

On the flip side, part of me is just tempted to buy a lower end BIC America Eviction Series RTR-EV1200 12-Inch powered sub for $205 shipped or the BIC America F12 12-Inch sub for $220 shipped and not even bother with the Infinity at all... My time may end up being worth more than the $100 difference in cost plus I'd get better sound quality using the BIC sub and a 2-ch BT receiver. Yamaha, Pioneer, and Sony all have 2-ch receivers with BT for $150. An Onkyo is $200... The SMSL AD18 that I shared a few posts back is $145. So upgrading to one of the better receivers is a no-brainer, but I don't know which one I'll grab yet.




And the final update is that I'm still going with my daily push-up challenge. In the first week when combined with the skating and eating better, I've lost 4 pounds too! Four down, 31 to go!

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Welp...

Reading quick reviews on Amazon the Sony and Yamaha are out of the running. It's boiling down to the Pioneer/Onkyo twins: The Pioneer SX-10AE and the Onkyo TX-8220. They use the same remote and both are 45W/ch. The Onk has a phono input, which I don't need or want in the garage. The reviews of the Onk compared them to the Sony and Yamaha. Many had purchased either or both of those and returned them for the Onk. If the internals of the Pioneer are truly identical to the Onk except the phono stage, then I'll save $50 and get the Pioneer.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

I called Onkyo/Pioneer. The twins are made in the same facility and they have the same amps. HOWEVER, the Onk has a 2 year warranty vs. the Pioneer's 1 year, the Onk has two digital inputs, the Onk has the tone controls on the front panel, and you can assign the two sets of speaker outputs to bi-amp a single set of speakers. Combined with the sub-output, that would make for a really awesome horn setup!

So the Onk will be ordered soon, it's well worth the extra $50 for all the added features and ease of use.

 

[xtremek]

So is this for the house or the garage?

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Garage. I have two vintage receivers in the house. I'll add a stand alone audiophile BT receiver for the house system. My home system is strictly 2-ch.

 

[BoilermakerFan]

Our first snow of the season.

 

[xtremek]

I always like the fresh look of a good coating of new snow.