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Official Pit Home Improvement/DIY thread

tsywake said:
I think I mentioned this before, but we decided to build a new bed based upon this design, modified to a king.

http://www.ana-white.com/2011/09/farmhouse-storage-bed-storage-drawers

So far things have been going well. We dropped maybe $400 total in lumber, with the most difficult find being 4x4's that were not treated. We finally found some fir posts that were untreated, but cost around $35 apiece. Oh well, the price you pay to not breathe in chemicals. We started Monday after work, and are almost ready to put the pieces together. We decided to paint the bed rather that stain, because we are using fir, spruce, pine, and maple on different places. I'll post some final pics, but I'm pretty stoked to have a bonafide bed again. We've been sleeping on a mattress on the floor for a couple months now.
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Looks like a great project. As long as you are modifying the design anyway, Some musings for youon other modifications I would make.

I would make the drawers longer than the 14 inches I see going under the bed. Why not use that otherwise unused space. Longer drawers wouldn't be a problem as long as you have room to open them into the room. I would first check to see if drawers extending to the middle would work. If not, shorten until you find something that works for your room.

I would also go with higher quality (and more expensive) full extension heavy duty slides. These will make using the storage drawers much easier in the future. I don't like cheap drawer slides. Penny wise and pound foolish.

You could also put drawers into the footboard in the middle to use at least part of the space, if you don't extend the side drawers until they nearly touch in the middle. You would have a lot of room if you are modifying to handle a king size mattress.

My free advice. Take it for what you are paying for it.
 
tsywake said:
I think I mentioned this before, but we decided to build a new bed based upon this design, modified to a king.

http://www.ana-white.com/2011/09/farmhouse-storage-bed-storage-drawers

So far things have been going well. We dropped maybe $400 total in lumber, with the most difficult find being 4x4's that were not treated. We finally found some fir posts that were untreated, but cost around $35 apiece. Oh well, the price you pay to not breathe in chemicals. We started Monday after work, and are almost ready to put the pieces together. We decided to paint the bed rather that stain, because we are using fir, spruce, pine, and maple on different places. I'll post some final pics, but I'm pretty stoked to have a bonafide bed again. We've been sleeping on a mattress on the floor for a couple months now.
Click to expand...

I wish you had emailed me. Caroline hardwood supply out in Burlington always has some untreated 4x4s. I got some there when I built the island for Sleepy's kitchen.
 
Deaconblue said:
Looks like a great project. As long as you are modifying the design anyway, Some musings for youon other modifications I would make.

I would make the drawers longer than the 14 inches I see going under the bed. Why not use that otherwise unused space. Longer drawers wouldn't be a problem as long as you have room to open them into the room. I would first check to see if drawers extending to the middle would work. If not, shorten until you find something that works for your room.

I would also go with higher quality (and more expensive) full extension heavy duty slides. These will make using the storage drawers much easier in the future. I don't like cheap drawer slides. Penny wise and pound foolish.

You could also put drawers into the footboard in the middle to use at least part of the space, if you don't extend the side drawers until they nearly touch in the middle. You would have a lot of room if you are modifying to handle a king size mattress.

My free advice. Take it for what you are paying for it.
Click to expand...

If you're going to do deeper drawers and be putting clothes in there you HAVE to use the heavy duty slides, or you'll end up with broken hardware in short time.

Are you still going to put a box spring under the mattress and have a really tall bed, or are you going to put the mattress directly on the bed foundation?
 
Working nights and weekends we are hoping to have the bed ready to sleep in Sunday night. We made a few mistakes, mostly me not taking the blade width into account. Prior to this, I worked primarily with metal or general construction cuts, and always cut the line. It took a few recuts before I finally settled into leaving the line. We decided to paint it a chalky gray with a brown antique wax top coat. One thing is certain, the damn thing is heavy. Probably close to 500lbs when completely put together, but its solid wood and built like a haus.
 
Well, today was one of the more unpleasant DIY projects. Pull out a toilet (all the way to the floor), replace all the soft parts and then put it back in. One of the bolts holding the toilet to the flange no longer was doing its job, so the toilet was wandering on the floor and no longer properly sealed. "Getting the old wax ring off was the most "fun" part of the job. Replaced it with a new style rubber foam gasket. We will see how that lasts. The Kohler three bolt tank to bowl gaskets are not fun to remove.

Wet vac made quick work of emptying both the tank and bowl. A coupla quick slurps, and both were empty! Highly recommended if you do anything requiring the toilet to be empty.
 
Looking to replace our kitchen laminate counter tops. Quartz? Granite?? Any recommendations???
 
morrison2951 said:
Looking to replace our kitchen laminate counter tops. Quartz? Granite?? Any recommendations???
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Quartz and Granite are the top performers. Laminate is a lot cheaper, and the best laminate isn't far behind those two. See Consumer Reports Aug 2015 for the pluses and minuses of each of the available kinds of countertops. Quartz gives you the biggest variety in what your surface can look like. This is one project I would not call DIY. Get a good reliable kitchen remodeler to do your countertops.

I would really stay away from wood - butcher block, bamboo etc. particularly near the sink. Wood and water do not play nice together.

Make sure your base cabinets are in shape to handle the weight of quartz or granite. Most are, but some aged ones might not be. Also make sure you are OK with putting new counters on old cabinets - unless you are doing a full remodel and just asking about countertops.
 
I've gotten two quotes for door replacement. Front door pre-hung steel or fiberglass, back door slab wood. First quote (directly from a contractor) totaled $1410 and second quote (Lowe's) was $2401. Quite the difference.

Any suggestions on places/people to call in Winston to get a third quote, or input on the costs and what I should expect to pay? It's pretty frustrating that a prehung steel door alone is $200-250 yet installation is like double that.
 
If you've got the doors already picked out, email them to me. Tim that we tube with is a GC and would probably come hang it for substantially less. I can ask him tomorrow at our meeting.
 
tsywake said:
If you've got the doors already picked out, email them to me. Tim that we tube with is a GC and would probably come hang it for substantially less. I can ask him tomorrow at our meeting.
Click to expand...

I have a few in mind. Back door is going to take a fair bit of work as there's almost an inch difference between the width at top and bottom. Front door should be more straightforward.
 
I have white quartz and it's kind of a pain in the ass. Stains really easily.
 
weird, we have white quartz and it never stains unless something purple sits on it for a long period of time. reseal it?
 
It's an apartment. I've been able to get most of it out using some stronger cleaners but I don't think that's good for it.
 
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