Date

Description

$$$

Hours

08-21-05

Removed the wooden form to reveal the finished step. It could use a little cleaning and touching up here and there, but overall I am very pleased.

08-20-05

Dad came over and helped me mix and pour the concrete and then set the stone for the step.

3

Purchased stone (local fieldstone), stone chippign hammer, concrete and rebar.

$81.05

08-14-05

I fabricated and put in place a form (for pouring concrete) for a step to the garage's side door.

zip

3

08-08-05

Installed our old house window AC units, yes, plural, they are both in there now. So the garage currently is air conditioned from both sides!

08-07-05

Annalisa and I pulled coaxial cable, phone line and a loop of plastic clothes line thorugh the other large dia pipe to the garage. The loop of clothes line is so that if I should need to pull something else through there, I can just tie it to the loop and pull. I won't have to push the electricians fish tape through again.

I purchased and I plumbed in some PVC pipe from the old steel water lines just like we did for the power lines to the garage and for the time being, just stored the ends of the wires behind the wall. When I get aroudn to putting wallplates for the cable and phone lines, the wire will be there all ready to hook up. After that was all buttoned up I filled in the hole with the remaining rubble from the pond. Recycle!

$$$

4

06-08-04

I plumbed the hard lines, regulator, filter, and emergency shutoff for the air compressor.

Photos to follow

$$$

3

03-17-04

zero bucks

2

03-16-04

Got something done!

• Found the rest of the pieces for the old garage door opener.
• Found the brackets for securing the workbench.
• Bought some staples.

Having found all that good stuff, I first secured the workbench to the wall with the found brackets and some screws. I think it will be sturdy enough. If not, I'll get out the lag bolts instead.
That done, I put up the rest of the insulation in the front left corner. I had to do some framing to build up the corner for plywood but I got that done AND I got all the plywood up in that corner and above the door too! So, the plywood walls are all up except for under the three windows... which will wait until I repair the windows (as I said before). Walls look great. Time for toolboards, shelves, hooks, storage bins, etc. Time to get organized.

$$$

something for staples, check receipt

3

03-15-04

zero bucks

2

03-14-04

zero bucks

2

03-11-04

zero bucks

2.25

03-09-04

Added insulation inbetween the studs where the light switches are.  Put up plywood from the lightswitch side of the door to the window.

Note: still can't find my prybar!

zero bucks

2.5

03-06-04

zero bucks

2

03-05-04

Zero bucks

2

$$$$

02-25-04

Purchased a box, cover, 1/2" conduit fitting, and a square electrical box cover. All for installing the light by the side door except the square electrical box cover... that was for covering the box with the mess-o-wires for all the lights.

$9.10

02-24-04

Purchased 2 boxes of grabber screws.

Sprayed expanding foam in all the cracks I could find for it.

Installed the exterior GFCI receptical.

$12.98

2.5

02-22-04

zero bucks

4

02-21-04

$255.00

3(x2)=6

02-20-04

zero bucks

.5

02-19-04

zero bucks

2

02-17-04

Purchased some supplies (staplegun staples) and washers and installed some of the insulation.

$15.14

2

02-16-04

zero bucks

1

02-15-04

zero bucks

3

02-1-04

$43.34

02-12-04

Dad came over for dinner and afterwards we worked on the wiring in the garage some more.

We put up the old garage door opener so we could check where the ceiling recepticals need to be placed.  Then he put together a section of condiut and two duplex recepticals that would power the two garage door openers.

In the meantime I drilled holes in the ceiling beams so I could run wires to the lights that would hang in the front half of the garage.

zero bucks

2(X2)=4

02-11-04

zero bucks

1.5

02-10-04

Finished cutting and inserting all the hard foam insulation for the garage doors. All that is left to do on them now is tape the seams.

Note: It would appear that the foam has added a bit of weight to the doors. Now I need to increase the spring tension!

zero bucks

3

02-09-04

Purchased 125' of 4' wide Prodex High-R insulation, 1 roll of double sided tape, and 1 roll of single sided tape for the insulation install from SteelBuildingsEtc.com.

I worked on the garage door insulation.

$144.95

2

02-08-04

I ran wire to the remaining recepticals while dad hooked up all the recepticals.

We cleaned up and rearranged so we could put the SONEAT in its spot.  It looks good in there.

zero bucks

3(x2)=6

02-07-04

zero bucks

2(x2)=4

02-05-04

Drilled holes for the wires to pass through the wall studs.

Screwed on one more wall recepticle box.

Cleaned up some.

zero bucks

2

02-04-04

Ripped and installed a few more boards to sister on and replace the termite decimated ones.  That should be done now.

I also installed one more piece of insulation in one of the garage doors.

2

02-01-04

I finished installing the sealing strips around the garage doors.  I am not 100% happy with the way these worked out.  I may need to take them down and redo it in order to get a decent seal. The place where the wood garage meets the cinder block garage is not in-line always and creates a bent board when nailed down.  I either have to accept that or I have to shave away the board so it lies flat.  I think I will shave the board so it will lie flat... but we'll have to wait and see.

Also did just a little bit more work on the insulation in the garage doors.

I treated all the exposed unpainted wood with Timbor professional wood treatment.  I'll continue to put this on the various boards i install as things move along... like on the inside of the plywood walls and on the inside of the siding that's going back up.

4

01-31-04

Dad and Sam helped me work on the garage a little today.

I hooked up the power plug to the heater and dad jumpered it to run without a thermostat... WE HAVE HEAT!

Sam started on insulating the garage doors with the urethane foam insualtion. It is looking good.

I ripped some boards to use around the garage doors and even got a couple of sealing strips nailed up.

1(x3)=3

+

2(x1)=2

=5

01-27-04

Purchased (the correct) 50 amp receptical, 4 sheets of 2" urethane foam insulation (R 13) for the garage doors, and six 1x6x8 pressure treated boards for trimming the garage doors.  Brought that plus some conduit for the basement and potting soil for Annalisa's plants... home in Sam's Suburban in a snowstorm.

I hooked up the 50 amp receptical and connected and installed the 50 amp double pole breaker. 

$126.69

2

01-26-04

Purchased a cord for the heater and a thermostat which I will install in the house and bring the old house one out to the garage (I will attribute the cost of the thermostat to the house).  Also bought some clips to hold the power cable to the wall.

I re-hung the heater... twice before I settled on the back left corner as its final place.  I worked on fishing the power cable for the heater and started to install the receptical when I realized I had bought the wrong one... the one I bought didn't have a hole for a ground prong.

20.99

2

01-25-04

1

01-22-04

Purchased a bunch of stuff at Home Depot.

• Two 8' lengths of 5/16-18 threaded rod to hang the heater.
• 50amp receptical (turns out it is the wrong one).
• 50amp double pole breaker.
• Box of 5/15 washers.
• Box of 5/16-18 hex nuts.
• 25' of 6-3/w grnd copper wire.

$71.35

01-21-04

$554.50

01-18-04

I went around and bent down the aluminum termite barrier to prepare for re-installing the siding.  Also fixed the sheeting next to the side door.

I attempted to reinstall the sealing pieces around the garage doors but need some new lumber to complete the project. 

Zero bucks

2.5

01-15-04

Dad and I braved the cold to do some more work on the lighting in the garage.  As a reward for our bravery...

...George said "let there be light" and there was *LIGHT*

So I have 2 bars of 4 fixtures with 2 bulbs each... for 8 40 watt bulbs total... in the back half of the garage.

We were supposed to meet with a guy dad knows from Conectiv about gas service to the garage... but he didn't show up.

zero bucks

2(x2)=4

01-13-04

I finally got around to putting the compression couplers on the two smaller pipes coming from the basement.  I had to cut them back a bit and this meant that I had to remove the phone line and coaxial cable that Annalisa and I pulled back on the 26th of October.  Crud.

At the moment, the pipes are just capped off so they are weathertight (and hopefully watertight) .  I can easily uncap them and pull the wires back through when I get a chance.

zero bucks

1.5

01-11-04

Dad and I worked on the interior lighting.  We assembled four of the flourescent lights and bolted them to the ceiling utilizing some small aluminum "H" section (I tried to write I-beam but the I [eie] in Arial font doesn't have any top and bottom to delinitate it from a lowercase L.)  We fished some wires through and dad wired up one of the switches.  I wired up all four lights in that bank and added a tail to tie into the second bank of four lights that will be mounted on the back side of the steel beam.

Purchased some nuts and bolts to hang the lights with and 2 ten packs of 40W flourescent light bulbs.

$53.17

6(x2)=12

01-06-04

Purchased a neutral lug for the Cutler-Hammer breaker panel at Dover Electrical Supply in Newark. Also purchased a few 5/16"x24x3/4" bolts.  The neutral lug is designed for a more recent version of the Cutler-Hammer breaker panel than I have, and as such the bolt that threads into the neutral bus is smaller... the new lug has a 1/4" screw.  So I modify one of the bolts I bought to make a new screw to mount the lug to the neutral bus.  The service guy at Dover Electrial Supply said the piece he gave me is the only service part available... why wouldn't they supply the older one?  Hell of a note.

The modifications are complete, the cover is back on the main breaker panel.  I even removed the breaker and wires from the panel that were for the old garage power cable.

$7.25

2

01-05-04

Purchased a CGFI outside weather protected wall outlet and a jar of wire nuts.

Dad and I hooked up the power!  We installed two 20 amp circuits with one outlet each next to the service panel.  I still need to find a proper neutral lug for the main panel in the basement (currently we are doubled up on the main ground) and shorten and neaten up the routing of the wires to the 100 amp breaker. 

$27.93

2(x2)=4

01-04-04

$20.91

2

01-03-04

Sam brought over Jake's old workbench and vise in his Suburban.  They're in rough shape but very serviceable and restoreable.  And Free!

Dad, Don, and I pulled the new power cables (three runs of #2 copper) through the old steam pipes.  It went better than we could have hoped.  No snags.  Dad and I installed the PVC pipe that went to the garage service panel and some of the PVC that ran inside the basement of the house.

1(x3)+2(x2)=7

01-02-04

Purchased PVC conduit supplies (2 inch adapter, insulating bushing, and 1 section of 2" 10' conduit), wire pulling lubricant, 2" end cap, (2) 3/4" end caps.

I dug and dug and dug to make a bigger hole around where the pipes from the basement arrive at the garage.  I cut the 2" pipes back farther and cleaned up the ends to prepare them for the couplings.  Then I installed a compression coupler, piece of threaded-end pipe, and an end-cap to seal off the temporarily unused old 2" dia pipe.  (It will someday carry a gas line I hope.)

Dad and I installed the service panel in the garage.

$15.98

2+3(x2)=8

01-01-04

I went over and loaded up a big pile of cinder block that dad had lying around into the back of Jeremy's truck.  We'd use it later in the day.

Then Dad and I went to Jake's to cut the beam supports down to the proper length (I'm reusing the screw jacks that I had holding up the garage before) and to reweld the base plates on.  I dropped dad off at his house to get some lunch and I went home to eat mine. 

He drove the truck with the cinder block over and we set about bolting the support posts into place and making all the arrangements to put the I-beam up.

We got it moved partially into place until we needed more help.  Then we went in and had some tea and cake.  Jeremy arrived about 3:30 and had some tea and cake too.  Then we went out and finished putting the beam in place.  It was very heavy but we managed very well.

5 (x2) +1=11

12-31-03

Jeremy and I went to Jake's to pick up a trailer.  Before we left, we had to extract Jake's Suburban from the muddy field where Frank Porter had left it.  Difficult, but not impossible.

Then we left and went to the "Steel and Metal Liquidators" place on Old Airport Road to hunto down a hunk of steel.  We bought a W10-18 steel I beam... 20 feet long.  380 lbs.  $0.30/lb = $114.  N ot bad at all.  I also bought a piece of 3" square steel tubing (8' long) to make legs for my workbench and a 94lb section of railroad rail for Jeremy and to add weight to the tongue of the trailer..

We towed the steel home and set to work cutting it to length, notching it to fit, and drilling the holes for the support post mounting plates.

$140.00

5 (x2)=10

12-29-03

None of the windows will go up or down... they are all painted shut and all have broken ropes to the counterweights.  I decided to try and pull the cover pieces off the inside to see how bad it will be to replace the counterweight ropes.  Not too bad. :)  After a little work I could easily get to them and I didn't destroy much.  It will go back together fine.

Then I decided to see if I could free the window from the hellish grasp of the paint.  Gawd there is a lot of paint on there.  The paint gave wayeasily when assaulted by a paint scraper!  Though one (already broken) pane of glass fell out when I was getting into the paint scraping thing.

My plan now is to use the one window I removed to make room for the side door as a "parts window."  I'll clean all it's component parts up and then swap them with one of the windows that are all crappy and broken.  Then I'll clean up those crappy and broken pieces and swap them into the next window and so on and so on until I have all my windows working nicely again.  Maybe I will even make a set of screens for them, or "storm" windows to help the insulating properties in winter?

Next I got my grinder and sat down to clean up the ends of the pipes that are coming from the basement of the house.  I need to make the ends nice and smooth and round so that the compression fittings will fit and seal well.  This went OK but is a tiring process.  I had to get a file and work on a lot of it that way.  Ugh.  Then I realized that I am going to have to do it all over again... because the pipes are cut off so close to the garage that I can't fit the 90 degree bend in without hitting the wall.  Oh well, more wasted effort.

2.5

12-28-03

Uncle Jim and dad helped me reinstall the garage doors today.  There is some fine adjustment that will need to be done, and the garage door openers are not yet installed, but the doors are in and go up and down pretty nicely.

That was the only goal but dad also managed to adjust the side door fitment by chiseling out some material from the frame at the hinge mounting points and get the deadbolt installed. 

5 (x3)=15

12-23-03

$29.29

12-22-03

$40.07

12-19-03

We have concrete! The contractor poured the new floor today. Depsite it still being in the 30's. He said they put heat in the conrete and there is a propane heater in the corner to keep the floor from getting too chilled. We are supposed to get into the 40's tomorrow so that's good. I wonder how long I have to wait before I can park cars on it?

Oddly, they decided not to put the steel angle on the threshold. I don't understand why, but I am not inclined to make a stink about it. The fact that I actually have a new floor and foundation and it all looks good is plenty of reason to jump up and down and act silly happy.  I'll leave it at that.

Specs... there's steel matting in the concrete, it is a fiber reinforced, is a 3500lb/sq inch mix, and is at least 5" thick.

$2864.00

12-09-03

12-08-03

12-07-03

Dad did some more nailing while I shimmed and made a plate for the center post.  We removed the front beam and it was finally back supporting its own weight, entirely on its own. Then we framed the rough opening for the side door and hung the door in it.

After dad went home and I ate dinner, I went back out and cleaned everything out of the garage so that the contractor could come in and pour the new floor.

zero bucks

5 (x2)=10

12-06-03

Sam brought the Suburban down and picked up me, my dad, and dad's little snowblower and we went to Jake's to dig him out.  Afterwards we went back to my house and got Capriottis for lunch.  Then they helped dig me out and then finally worked on the garage.

We got the front of the garage all set back down on the foundation except for the center post between the two doors.  So the center beam was removed and we left just the front beam in place and that only tight in the middle.

zero bucks

5 (x3)=15

12-02-03

I'll pay, I'm sure

11-30-03

Dad came over and helped me nail some more boards to the sill plate and garage walls to tie everything together.

Later, I took the sawzall and cut the rest of the rotten wood away.  Now the front hangs in the air. 

zero bucks

5 (x2)=10

11-28-03

I bought 60 ft of 10" aluminum flashing to use as a termite barrier.

Dad, Jeremy, and Uncle Jim were a BIG help! We did all this:

• Drilled holes for and set anchors in the concrete.
• Bolted the lower sill plate and aluminum flashing termite guard down to the concrete block wall.
• Trimmed the wall studs.
• Inserted and nailed down the second sill plate.
• Toe-nailed the wall studs to the sill plate.
• Tore out the window where the new door is going.
• Removed garage doors.
• Removed the rear support beam and moved it to the front.
• Checked level (not)

$24.20

5 (x4)=20

11-26-03

 Annalisa's boss Harvey gave me the names and numbers of a bunch of contractors.  I called 4 and heard back from two.  They both came out and estimated the job.  I've hired Nicholas Ruggerio and he's done an admirable job thus far.  He's shown up when he said he would and done what he said he'd do.  Amazing.

I now have two course of 8" block filled in at the top (FHA) that runs the entire back wall and half of the side walls.

Yay.

11-20-03

$57.00

 Well.  Guess what?

Mr. Robert Plumski is a bum.  He never came out to do my block work.  He said he would at least a dozen times.  "Oh, I'll be there tomorrow.  See you then." "Definitely this time.  I'll be there in the morning."

Yeah, right.

Never showed, never called to say he wasn't going to show.  Every time I called him he said he come and every time it was a lie.

WTF?

11-15-03

-$30.00

10-26-03

In a great effort to avoid work I decided to see if I could find out any more about the pipes that run from the basement to the garage. They come up in the garage floor and look plenty large enough to run some wire through.  If I can get my electrician's fish tape through them... I might not have to dig up the yard to run the wires from the house.

Eureka!

I dug down and located the pipes inside a piece of big ceramic drainpipe.  I cracked that and tore into the pipes with my sawzall to see what they held.  They actually are in fairly decent shape.

So Annalisa and I ran the phone line and the coax cable through one of the smaller pipes to test the plan.  It worked!

zero bucks

5

10-25-03

$225.00

10-24-03

zero bucks

1

10-23-03

zero bucks

1.5

10-20-03

zero bucks

1.5

10-19-03

zero bucks

5

10-12-03

zero bucks

1

10-08-03

zero bucks

2

10-07-03

$70.00

2.5

10-06-03

zero bucks

2

10-05-03

zero bucks

1 (x2)=2

10-04-03

zero bucks

1

10-03-03

$130.00

09-21-03

Purchased 2x12x16 (2) and 3 building screw jacks.

Dad came over and helped me place the middle support/jacking beam on the screw jacks.

$100

2 (x2)=4

09-14-03

$10.20

1.5 (x2)=3

09-12-03

$50.00

08-18-03

$7.38

08-17-03

$874.95

Sometime

zero bucks

5

07-27-03

zero bucks

4

06-28-03

zero bucks

5