Home Improvement

mkopec

mkopec

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Yeah its not like you need to buy $1000s of tools at one time or something. If you need a specialty tool for something, and you do it a lot or even some? Fucking buy it. Then its in your tool box forever. The bigger specialty tools can all be rented for chump change. shit like wet tile saws, table saws, power sprayers, etc....
 
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Draegan_sl

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I don't have a table saw, but I'll be buying one in the next 2-3 weeks I think.

Another tip for new homeowners: If you're in Home Depot and you see a pancake air compressor with some pneumatic tools for cheap. Buy it. A brad nailer is an awesome thing to have. I got a set for $80 on sale a few years ago.
 
mkopec

mkopec

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Yeah I have a tablesaw I bough in the 90's, a nice rigid belt driven one with solid cast iron wings. But to tell you the truth, I rarely use it. Last time I used it was for my hardwood floor I installed in the kitchen. I had to make some rips for the last row. But its definitely nice to have when you need it. I would say whats more important is things like a nice compound miter saw, a nice circular saw, a good 18v power drill, sawzal... thats the shit I use the most often...
 
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Draegan_sl

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I bought a nice single bevel chop saw a year ago for crown molding. I use this saw a lot. I need to do long rips for wainscotting, so that's what I'll be doing with it.
 
Oldbased

Oldbased

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As someone who has been building and repairing things for 26 years and making cabinets and furniture for jobs the past 12, let me warn you the closest I've come in my life to death TWICE is from a table saw. Once just earlier this year I was cutting down a 1'x3' piece of S4S popular and it bound. It knocked me down, bruised my ribs and took a chuck out of the brick behind me 30 feet away.

Do be careful using a table saw.

Edit as for buying one. I never almost lost a finger or anything but binding wood is the issue. A large expandable table makes it less likely.
If possible look for one with a extension in the same direction the blade cuts out past it. A large piece of wood is hard to cut as it wants to fall, a extender solves this.
The heavier the better. I had a portable saw once that weighed next to nothing, issue was it would move around as you cut. I welded a drop plate on mine after earlier this year so I could add blocks to weigh it down even more and mine weighs a good 80lbs to begin with.
I do a lot of hardwood ply cutting though and a lot of oak/popular cuts for stiles and rails.
 
lurkingdirk

lurkingdirk

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Might as well get a good one.

DL98Im3.jpg
 
Gavinmad

Gavinmad

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I spread about 5 tons of gravel today, then started transplanting sod and said fuck it after barely an hour. God I'm so out of shape. We'll see how I feel in the morning as to whether or not I go back tomorrow (was my Grandmother's house)
 
TrollfaceDeux

TrollfaceDeux

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Gavinrad_sl said:
I spread about 5 tons of gravel today, then started transplanting sod and said fuck it after barely an hour. God I'm so out of shape. We'll see how I feel in the morning as to whether or not I go back tomorrow (was my Grandmother's house)
Click to expand...
it gets better after a week or 2.
 
Xarpolis

Xarpolis

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I have 6 power saws. Everything from an old Craftsman table (it was my Grandfathers), an old Craftsman circular (also my grandfathers), a 12" Milwaukee dual bevel miter, a 10" Milwaukee circular, a Milwaukee sawzall, & a Milwaukee jigsaw.

My favorite of the bunch is the dual bevel. Though I probably use the table most often. Milwaukee makes a hell of a tool. I have a LOT of their stuff.

Seriously, how awesome is this thing?
Milwaukee-6955-12-Inch-Sliding-Dual-Bevel-Miter-Saw.jpg


I picked it up on an Amazon black friday special, back in 2011. $599. Worth every penny.
 
lurkingdirk

lurkingdirk

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That's a sweet saw. I have this bad boy:

2UXoXRF.jpg


I got the 12 inch because I have very deep trim throughout my house. Deep enough that a 10 inch saw wouldn't cut it.

I also have a Dewalt sawsall, craftsman table saw, craftsman jig saw, off-brand 14" band saw from Harbour Freight (which is awesome, surprisingly), a Dewalt worm-drive circular saw, and a Craftsman scroll saw. Seven power saws? dang. Oh, and I have two chain saws (one on a pole), do they count?
 
Oldbased

Oldbased

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lurkingdirk_sl said:
That's a sweet saw. I have this bad boy:

2UXoXRF.jpg


I got the 12 inch because I have very deep trim throughout my house. Deep enough that a 10 inch saw wouldn't cut it.

I also have a Dewalt sawsall, craftsman table saw, craftsman jig saw, off-brand 14" band saw from Harbour Freight (which is awesome, surprisingly), a Dewalt worm-drive circular saw, and a Craftsman scroll saw. Seven power saws? dang. Oh, and I have two chain saws (one on a pole), do they count?
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That is identical the one I have with stand I paid $699 for. After having a Milwaukee drill, hammer and impact driver ( M18 lith ) though every tool I ever purchase now on will be Milwaukee.
Not that my Dewalt is bad but I have to readjust it ALL the damn time to get good cuts. If I adjust it for straight it throws it out on bevel and if I adjust that, it tosses out 45's sometimes only 1 side.
I have the crown brackets for it as well which makes cutting a room of crown molding a 10 minute affair.

Just been VERY impressed with Milwaukee. I did a job back in 2010 for MDHA in Nashville projects putting up 110 lb storm doors. Had to drive 2 inch screws into metalx14 for each door plus closers and shit. That cordless drill did over 100 of those doors, and then lasted 3 more years before I had the transmission replaced in it last year. Hell I probably did 15 bathroom/kitchen remodels sinking in hardibacker screws with it as well in that time.

Now I only use the impact. Which I found brand new on ebay for $50 no battery( which was fine I had 3 already ). If you don't have a impact driver, sell your wife and buy one. You'll look for shit to screw the first 2 months owning one of those.
 
Xarpolis

Xarpolis

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My problem with battery powered tools is that I don't use them nearly enough. I'll do a project every couple of months, and in that time, the battery is usually deep cycled. I don't know if non-car batteries can deep cycle, but the drill gun type are usually dead as shit. The issue with leaving them on a charger until I need it is that it really kills a battery's life cycle. I'll buy a brand new drill and use it, then throw the battery in a charger and not use it again for another 4 months. Then when I go to use it again, the battery does like a dozen screws, but then it's dead again. It's a real pain in the ass. As a result, when I buy tools, I go with corded versions only. That way when I actually need to use it, it's ready right now and I don't have to wait for a battery to charge.
 
mkopec

mkopec

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Xarpolis_sl said:
My problem with battery powered tools is that I don't use them nearly enough. I'll do a project every couple of months, and in that time, the battery is usually deep cycled. I don't know if non-car batteries can deep cycle, but the drill gun type are usually dead as shit. The issue with leaving them on a charger until I need it is that it really kills a battery's life cycle. I'll buy a brand new drill and use it, then throw the battery in a charger and not use it again for another 4 months. Then when I go to use it again, the battery does like a dozen screws, but then it's dead again. It's a real pain in the ass. As a result, when I buy tools, I go with corded versions only. That way when I actually need to use it, it's ready right now and I don't have to wait for a battery to charge.
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They make Lithium-ion ones now that dont have that problem. I bought a 18v Makita set up not too long ago. (Because I had the same problem with my DeWalt 18v setup you had) Now with the Lithium-ion you can let that shit sit idle for 2 yrs and it will work like its new, the batteries dont even lose their charge.
 
Joeboo

Joeboo

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Also, make sure to buy a home that has 1 more garage space than you need...or extra-deep garage spaces with room for a workbench & storage.

Man, this crap takes up a lot of room
 
Erronius

Erronius

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Draegan_sl said:
Oh fucking god, this weekend was hell. I removed a wall. The wall was easy. The electrical? Suicide. I'm not an electrician, but wiring stuff up is easy, especially if you're just replicating it, or extended existing wiring. I wouldn't attempt to re-wire or add on additional circuits in my home.

So I took down a wall, it was a wall that separated the dining room and kitchen. There is a light in both rooms and the switches where in series with each other. The circuit looks like this: POWER > Dining Room Light > Switch > Switch > Kitchen Light > ... morelightsandswitches.

If you look at the picture, there is a half wall left as a back of a counter. To the right of that space was a doorway. The light switches were to the left of it. The wire is routed from my fusebox up into the attic, and follows the chain, the switches are dropped down through the ceiling and back up. I had to reroute the lines so they went through the half wall and up the (old) exterior wall and back into the attic.

Well fuck me if didn't learn the difference between 3 wire cable and 2 wire cable. I spent like 8 hours on Sat rerouting wire (the wire in the attack is in a space that has about 2 feet of clearance under A frames on top of beams. Fucking hurt getting in and out of that), and attempting to learn how to wire back to back switches. Didn't work.

Spent 2 hours on Sunday realizing I need 3 wire (red black and white) cable, ripping out old, stringing up the 3-wire (by the way, the space the wire comes up into the attic is like at the corner of the a-frame. I'm too big for this shit.) and then reconnecting it.

Got my 3 wire up, wiried the circuit properly and HOLY FUCK IT WORKED (dimmer switch doesn't fucking DIM THOUGH).

So when I went to install the boxes and put the switches in place, did more drywall, then went up into the attack to put the exposed wiring into a box and closed it up. Well fuck me if the old wiring didn't crack. There went another 2 hours finding the problem last night.

Finally it all works as up 11pm last night (dimmer doesn't work still). Went to go plug in the fridge? Oh right, 4 outlets don't work in my kitchen. I eliminated one socket on Sat, and just spliced the wires into a junction box in the basement. I fucking hope that is the problem since I didn't do any other electrical work this weekend. If it isn't, I'm in trouble.
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KoMe6AA.jpg
 
Noodleface

Noodleface

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I got those Andro or Amdro stakes for the ants. Haven't seen a goddamn ant in a week. That shit really works.
 
Xarpolis

Xarpolis

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My house had shit for storage. Big open rooms and such No garage, but a full sized basement. Fortunately, I'm able to build my own storage space. (hidden behind spoiler tag due to image size)

Here's my basement. As you can tell, I like lights. Threw a bunch of fluorescent ballasts down there to brighten up my work area. The work bench is REALLY high. But then again, I'm 6'4, so I want something more my height to work on. I believe the top is 44"-46" from the floor.
hMDIBI8.jpg


The shelving along the wall is nice as well. Each gap is 20" high. 31" deep and 16 feet long. When I first moved in, the water heater (behind the white hose on the far left of the picture) was next to the steps. When I designed the shelves, I moved it under the steps to consolidate space and make the most of my shelves.
XhJDYsu.jpg


And lastly, I put down flooring in my attic. (and lights... don't forget the lights) At first there were just 2x4's joists up there with lots of insulation. I attached 2x10x12's up there to both the 2x4 joists as well as the 2x4 struts. Once that was down, I was able to lay down the 3/4" plywood flooring. I'm happy with the result. Oh, I also installed the attic steps. Previously there was only a 24"x24" port hole in one of our closets. This new design is much nicer and gives us even more storage. This is when I first put the floor down. The bathroom vents are now run to the outside of the house instead of just the attic the way they were when we first purchased the property.
6vsjYhM.jpg
 
chaos

chaos

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I really want to put in flooring and a new opening to my attic so I can turn that into a storage space. I saw them install one of those drop down ladders on a DIY show and it looked pretty easy, the main issue would be finding a good place for it with my layout.
 
Xarpolis

Xarpolis

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I had to create a space for it. I have a screwy Z shaped hallway (90 degree angles though). If I installed it the recomended way, I would have had to carry things past 2 corners in order to get them into the attic. I opted to cut through a few of the joists that were directly connected to walls below them. Then I framed out a box that I would put the ladder into. The attic is just as strong, if not stronger now, than it was previously. It just took some finesse to make it work properly. But it was nice being able to put it where it is now. The way I have it set up, the ladder drops down a step or two ahead of the few steps to the corner landing. It makes it a lot easier when bringing larger things that need to be stored up there.

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