Recent content by ertman

Years ago I needed to get the axle nut off a VW Beetle - 36mm impact socket, my dad's Craftsman breaker bar, the handle off my floor jack, and all my weight... snap goes the 1/2" fitting on the breaker bar! Off to Sears I go to get a replacement. This is when I find out that they have a...

Yup! The only adjustables I'll use are the Knipex. Game changers.

Here in Calgary you can't even get someone to show up to a job for less than $1000! Besides, doing it yourself means you get to play with an excavator. Dig in a big open space to practice for a while and go for it.:thumbup:

Thanks. A lot of the neighbors assume there is a duplex on the lot, as the attached-double-double-garage is pretty common around here. When they see one of the doors open and realize it's all one garage they often stop to chat :-) A friend is building a house across the street on a steep hill -...

A few more pics of the finished garage.

I looked into hi-lift tracks, but it almost doubled the cost of the garage door install (commercial tracks vs. residential tracks.) I plan to do a DIY hi-lift modification to the existing set up in the future. We actually had to cut 8" off of the roof overhang on the one end of the garage after...

I completely bailed on providing any updates as we were building. Oops :-) The garage is what I would call 95% complete now. All the electrical is installed, all the insulation and drywall is complete, workbenches and storage is in. I had in-floor heat in mind for the space, but after...

Flat if you can get away with it. Mine is sloped 4" over 24' and I already regret it. Everything rolls away when you put it on the floor!

We just finished our house with Hardie. $7000 for the Hardie Planks, $1000 for trim and Tyvek, $40,000 labour to install. Ouch. I can't imagine installing it with just ladders, the siding scaffolding they used looks to be mandatory. The garage is getting Smart Panels!

It will be a couple of years away, but it will be a well documented project!

We're actually in Renfrew. When we were looking for a house or a lot this odd-shaped property came up for sale. It was only 10m wide at the front, but over 19m wide at the back and had an alley. The house was designed specifically to fit on this lot and the architect was told to make the garage...

The city does not feel the need to explain their actions. They justified it by saying the slab could heave and the drywall could crack. Considering that the slab was to be built on flat ground that has been undisturbed for 60+ years I call B.S. I could have had an engineer draw and certify the...

The roof is built to match the house, plus the steep pitch faces SW which gives me a good place to install solar panels eventually. The hope is that I can use solar for the in floor heating. This is located in Calgary.

A couple of years ago my wife and I started looking for a new house. She had all sorts of requirements, including being a lot closer to downtown than our current place. I only had one requirement, the garage had to be bigger than what I have now (a 22x20 attached garage.) It turns out that such...

I actually picked up some of the BRODER shelves for my garage. I used the wall-mount, not the freestanding version. I wanted some shelves I could hang from the wall that were adjustable (bring them down low in the summer and use as a lightweight workbench, up in the winter so I can park the...