Recent content by abfish

A four post lift. Reignited my interest in wrenching on cars. If you ask me next year, it will be air conditioning.

A friend developed a large retirement property like yours, over an extended period of time, with sheds, guest cabin, pond, main house, etc. He hired a landscape architect who prepared a plan that sited all of the proposed buildings in relation to the pond and topography of the site. Some of...

Freeze machine- fascinating. We installed public utilities for 20 years, but I've never heard of that. In the water systems we worked in, the service lateral "upstream" of the meter is the responsibility of the utility. The homeowner's responsibility is "downstream", from the meter to the...

I did away with a small compressor at my house, as it was only used to inflate tires. Cordless inflators fill that need. At my company shop, there's no replacing the compressor for running big air tools and the plasma cutter.

If he's truly stranded inside the building then the building is in clear violation of the fire codes regard emergency exits.

The worker is not trapped. His truck is trapped.

To cutting your walking in half, buy another mini-ex and stage it on the other side of the property. Duh!

Bought my first lift at age 50. It restored my interest in working on cars. Seriously. Started with a 2-post MaxJack. Graduated to a 4-post a few years ago.

If you'd like to install the shiplap parallel to the LVL's, you could install 1x4 strapping across the LVL's and then nail to the strapping. That's a detail used for drywall in the northeast.

No elderly or grandkids in my house (yet). I suppose it could be an issue one day, but on my list of household hazards, scalding is way down the list. Slipping, falling, working on ladders- those are the things I'm worried about.

It also begs the question of whether the scald guard is really needed with adults in the house. The wife likes really hot bathwater. The first thing we do with a new water heater is set the temp higher than the 120F that's standard these days. I think we're at 140F. No scaldings yet.

I've always called them modular block.

If you really want to go old school, make a scale drawing of the space, and cut out the lift shapes from another piece of paper (to scale of course). That makes it easy to experiment with placing the cars, or any other large object that may go in the space. I worked with a draftsman years...

I really like dual shield. It has lots of advantages. But it's not tolerant of rust. You'll end up with a lot of porosity if you can't get the metal clean.

There are lots of videos online that explain the risks of adding insulation to older buildings, as well as the proper methods. The key is to allow the structure to dry to the inside and the outside, which means using insulation and wall coverings that are vapor permeable. Fiberglass or rock...