Recent content by Mainiac Mat

Here's a look at my woodburning system... Note: after seeing friends who get up in the wee hours of the night to stoke their woodstoves, I committed to never be a slave to wood. So we augment with wood and have LPG via. Rinnai heaters and Jotel gas log stoves. We burn 2 to 3 cords of wood...

That manual latch design has been around for eons... but it didn't come with my OHDs when I built my COVID garage. So I purchased them online and installed myself. I find them very handy when: we go away on vacation. we lose power and have to release the automatic openers to open & close the...

If they're working for me, I absolutely offer drinks. And if my wife is super happy with the work, she'll bake cookies or something. I may even bring donuts for the 9 a.m. break. If I hired a G.C. and the crew is working for him, then that's his job.... and whether or not he does it will be a...

I may be misunderstanding your plan... but be sure you're clear on the vapor barrier. The vaper barrier goes on the warm side (the inside for your situation) to prevent warm moist air from passing through the wall and condensing on the inside surface of the exterior sheathing. This is where...

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...