General Upgrades & Ideas

[Commando]

I'll add my voice to those in favor of the diagonal flooring. Looks good!

[Donuthole]

Sorry, but those cheap Vegas houses just need to all be burned down. Starting over is the only way to make them half decent. SJBH.

I'm only shooting for a quarter decent home, so I may be able to avoid the total tear down!

[Pelado]

I'm only shooting for a quarter decent home, so I may be able to avoid the total tear down!

As soon as you finish the sink install you will have achieved your goal.

[TripletDaddy]

Sorry, but those cheap Vegas houses just need to all be burned down. Starting over is the only way to make them half decent. SJBH.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

Sorry, but those cheap Vegas houses just need to all be burned down. Starting over is the only way to make them half decent. SJBH.

I'm excited to see your house pics!

[Brian]

No love for the caulking gun on the pony wall or the tool belt on the entry table?

i couldn't keep my eyes off the spear in the corner behind the end table.
but a c-gun is always a nice accent piece. well executed.

[Brian]

Anyone have experience with a garbage disposal and a septic system?

I've heard conflicting information. Septic install guy says it's a no-go. Other guy says put an external grinder before the septic. People with septic systems say they have never had a problem. Lowes sells a unit with an enzyme spray that helps break down the food faster.
Anyone have a thought to pitch into the pile 'o info?


BTW, I've decided to call the septic tank the BM Hotel. Looking forward to the reviews on poovelocity.com

[Brian]

The BM Hotel



Beams close to being unveiled... Nervous about paint gooberage on them.






Cheese wheels at the local grocery store.

[Donuthole]

Those beams look great, Brian. Almost as good as the Gruyere, but definitely better than the Jarlsberg. Nice work.

[TripletDaddy]

agreed. very cool wooden beams, Brian. you are really talented.

Also glad to see that you are staying hydrated with a nice refreshing Dasani.

[wally]

Anyone have experience with a garbage disposal and a septic system?

I've heard conflicting information. Septic install guy says it's a no-go. Other guy says put an external grinder before the septic. People with septic systems say they have never had a problem. Lowes sells a unit with an enzyme spray that helps break down the food faster.
Anyone have a thought to pitch into the pile 'o info?


BTW, I've decided to call the septic tank the BM Hotel. Looking forward to the reviews on poovelocity.com

Having a little experience here, I would venture to guess that the biggest issue with a garbage disposal on a septic system is two-fold. First, you will load your septic tank with more solids than you would with just BMs, and will have to pump it more frequently.

Second, when folks have a disposal there is a psychological switch that flips and they feel like they can jam anything down the disposal that has no business being there. I am serious.

For example, I had a neighbor growing up and she would ask us (we had small rooter) to come unclog her drain about every month or so. Potato peels. Always potato peels. If you had a sink without a disposal, would you even think to wash potato peels down the drain? Of course you wouldn't. But add the disposal and all of the sudden you are just freakin' washing any old food item that it will grind up down there, including oily and greasy food items, which will go down easy in hot water and then congeal on pipe and tank walls when they cool, forming a build up not unlike cholesterol in an artery, which can cause a sewer backup into your home, which is a REAL treat.

Good luck and have fun being a septic tank owner! If you are one of those guys that schedules your day around your BM, this will be the same sort of thing on a monthly basis, depending on how big your tank is!

[Brian]

Having a little experience here, I would venture to guess that the biggest issue with a garbage disposal on a septic system is two-fold. First, you will load your septic tank with more solids than you would with just BMs, and will have to pump it more frequently.

Second, when folks have a disposal there is a psychological switch that flips and they feel like they can jam anything down the disposal that has no business being there. I am serious.

For example, I had a neighbor growing up and she would ask us (we had small rooter) to come unclog her drain about every month or so. Potato peels. Always potato peels. If you had a sink without a disposal, would you even think to wash potato peels down the drain? Of course you wouldn't. But add the disposal and all of the sudden you are just freakin' washing any old food item that it will grind up down there, including oily and greasy food items, which will go down easy in hot water and then congeal on pipe and tank walls when they cool, forming a build up not unlike cholesterol in an artery, which can cause a sewer backup into your home, which is a REAL treat.

Good luck and have fun being a septic tank owner! If you are one of those guys that schedules your day around your BM, this will be the same sort of thing on a monthly basis, depending on how big your tank is!

Thanks, that helps. I guess we'll have to be more careful about what we put down the drain, and put more in the trash.

Here's something that wont go down the drain anytime soon. An official cheese wheel!


Hallway beams uncovered. Minimal paint gooberage...


Entry way beams. No paint damage that I can detect....


Kitchen beams... Some clean up to do on these... Argh. Wife decided she wants some black hardware on them as well, so a little more work to do.

[Donuthole]

The beams look awesome, B-dazzle. Nice work. I also really like the casement windows and the contemporary cabinets.

What kind of hardware are you adding to the beams? Faux strapping? Also what kind of flooring is that you're putting down?

[Pelado]

Entry way beams. No paint damage that I can detect....

How tall is that door?

[Brian]

The beams look awesome, B-dazzle. Nice work. I also really like the casement windows and the contemporary cabinets.

What kind of hardware are you adding to the beams? Faux strapping? Also what kind of flooring is that you're putting down?

Just some simple "L" brackets, from each support to the main beam. Probably black, unless we can find something that's rusty.
All casings are very simple, 4" boards, with an 6" board on top. Nothing with a profile, just 3/4" stock. Baseboards will be the same, 10" high 3/4" plain stock. No crown molding anywhere.

Floors are pine, various widths (4", 5", 6", 7", 8", 9" 11"). It's going to be a bear to put down. Lots of planning to make sure it all works out... We stacked it by width, measured each piece, and then counted so we have an idea of where things need to go. The lengths vary as well. Most of them are 10' to 14' long, but some are 5', 8', 6', etc. My fear is that we'll get to the end of the house and not have enough of a certain width to finish a run. By percentages, the 11" is 25%, the 6" 30%, and I think the lowest is 8" at 6%, so we need to carefully mange where things go, and keep the mix good.

I divided the rooms up into zones of equal runs of wood, then made a big nasty spreadsheet to help manage the placement of each width in a zone. A constrained minimization problem if you will. Might throw some python code together to do this as well. Goal is to keep the width placement fairly random, use the widths maximally so we don't get in a bind at the end. We'll see how it goes.