Recent content by Mainiac Mat

Your Scag should have rebuildable hydro-drives. That, belts, and a little TLC to the Kow and you'll be all set for another decade. Even if you take it into the dealer, it will cost a lot less than buying new.

House wraps (like Typar or Tyvek) are used on stick built houses on the outside of the esterior plywood sheathing, and their purpose is to protect the sheathing from water... i.e. rot. Typar (the better option) breaths, to allow moist air to pass through and not condense on the sheathing...

Took me four days in the hot sun (including setting up and breaking down staging) but I managed to get some shingles on the new screen porch. And the best part is neither OSHA nor Murphey caught me. So glad to be off this roof just before the heat wave sets in.

Huffed 6 sheets of OSB up to the roof of the new timber framed screen porch... 85* in the shade (a lot hotter on the roof) and working solo. Good times :rolleyes: At 61 y.o., I think I'm getting too old and too fat for this type of work.... Just got to get the shingles on and blend the roof...

Sounds hot in the summer and cold in the winter. But hey, whatever floats your boat.

Don't cut the slab!!! The whole idea is to resist cantilever forces (called the "moment" in engineering parlance) that would tip the lift. You do this with a counter "moment" that resist those forces. This moment (or torque if you will) is a simple calculation.... M= F x D M is the moment...

I mixed 25 80# bags of QuickCrete last year pouring footings and Sonotube columns for my porch. At only $60/day, I very much wanted to rent a mud mixer (far better contraption than the spinning barrel type mixers). But.... I had to do the job in increments over a 2 week period, so shovel and a...

internal to the heater

yes and possibly

We get decent WiFi in the garage (I can stream music). Dummy me just wants an egg timer so I don't have to think about this. We have a ring cam / alarm system. We do not have Alexa (I was gifted an echo dot years ago and never plugged it in) as I don't want big brother listening in on my...

Hey gang, I have a 60K BTU HotDawg in my 26x30 detached garage. If I heat the garage to ~60* in the evening and then shut the heater off, the garage is well enough insulated that I usually won't go below freezing that night. So I'd like to be able to come home from work and run the heater for...

I personally wouldn't modify a truss framed roof. But I may be more conservative than others. If you're going to do so, I think the scissor truss option recommended by others is the best plan. However, installing this may be a ******. And if your roof pitch is shallow, then you might not...

Come on guys... this was pretty predictable. When Flex hit the market at roughly the same price point as Milwaukee Fuel and DeWalt XR, the writing was on the wall, as those two brands have very faithful followers in the world of guys who make their daily bread with their tools. Unless a new...

"buy 3 new scissors trusses that match the pitch and heel height of the existing trusses, then install them next to the existing trusses, then cut away the bottom chord of the existing truss." I think this is the best advise posted so far. But I personally, would never modify a truss framed roof.

If you want a tight house and plan to heat in winter and cool in summer, the best bet is to add an air-to-air heat exchanger. But your cabin is probably too small for that. And they are normally installed in the attic, so you'd lose your loft. If you heat with a wood stove, you're not going...