Forget jewels. I want tools!

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

I don’t know about anybody else, but the commercials that pop up this time of year talking about how really expensive diamond jewelry is the perfect Christmas gift are a little bit odd to me. Who has that much money to spend on a Christmas present?

But that could just be me. My Christmas list likely looks a little bit different than most women’s. At the top of my list this year is a Kreg Jig.

Photo from www.kregtool.com since I don’t have a jig of my own to photograph… yet

As the reno winds down, I’m realizing I’m going to have to start furnishing some of these beautiful spaces we’ve built.

Thoughts of TV stands and kitchen islands and sofa tables and ottomans and coffee tables and benches lead to web searches and Pinterest and project plans and Ana White and “I can build that!”

So it’s official. If I’m going to be building furniture, I need a Kreg Jig.

Oh, and some extra red Robertson bits (#8) and a new carpenter’s square would also be helpful. Jewelry would not.

Santa, are you listening?

William Wallace by way of a wet saw

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Saturday morning, Matt’s bathroom looked like this.

It’s not just Saturday. The bathroom has looked like this for the past several months while our attention has been on finishing the drywall in the rest of the basement.

By Saturday evening it looked like this.

Beautiful tile. Finally progress!

I’ve tiled before, and I actually enjoy doing it. It’s not hard work, but it does require planning.

My Dad and I spent several hours in the morning laying out the shower floor, carefully fitting and figuring. When we finally spread out the mortar, we had a really good idea of how everything should go.

The marble mosaic hexagon tiles that we used on the shower floor are all on a mesh backing that basically makes them into 12×12 tiles. It’s important to pay close attention when you join the sheets to make sure the gaps between the tiles are consistent. Despite our best efforts, I did still have a bit of difficulty keeping everything perfectly straight all the way across the floor, but I was able to adjust the spacing on the individual hexagons, and I think it will all look okay once it’s grouted.

Here are two lessons I learned about how to work with mosaic tile:

Don’t start with your first sheet tight to the wall. Keep it off an eighth or even a quarter of an inch. This will give you more room to make adjustments on your other sheets as you progress across the floor.
For areas like the drain, remove all of the tiles that come into contact with the drain. Lay your (mostly) full sheet as you usually would, and then insert individual tiles (or pieces of tiles) into the gaps as necessary.

On the main area of the floor we used actual 12×12 tiles, which were a piece of cake to install. The biggest piece of figuring we had to do was determine where the middle of the floor was and then centre our tile along that line.

The only sour bite in our cake was cutting out for the toilet. I know other people have used dremels or other tools to get nice round circles. We used the wet saw, which only cuts in a straight line. With lots of patience, lots of back and forth and even trading off cutting duties between my dad and me, we got the tile cut on the first try.

The cut of the day

It’s not as smooth as it would have been with another tool, but it will all be hidden under the toilet. That works for me.

What didn’t work for me was the William Wallace/Gene Simmons makeup I had going on after using the wet saw all day. All of the tile dust mixes with the water from the saw and from my waist to my hairline I had a dusty grey stripe in line with where the saw blade had sprayed me all day long–attractively along only the right side of my face.

Thank goodness for safety glasses

Next step is grout and then I can move onto the walls. Who knows, someday we might even move on to installing the actual fixtures and using this bathroom.

What’s your tiling experience? Any tips for keeping things straight and even? Or cutting a curved line with a straight saw?

Help! I have hod claw

Posted on September 13, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Matt and I put on a push this week in the basement in an attempt to pick up the pace on the pasting. (I love alliteration, but that’s a lot of ‘p’s even for me). We’ve made a lot of progress, but a side effect of all of this productivity (I just can’t stop!) is that we are both suffering from hod claw.

hod·claw

noun

an uncomfortable contraction of the hand, typically occurring after holding a hod for an extended time

For those that haven’t had the pleasure, a hod is basically a big tray that holds the drywall paste (also known as mud or compound) while you’re working.

After a full evening of working in the basement, uncurling our fingers from our hods is harder than you’d think.

Matt holding the hod

It’s not that we love drywall and don’t want to stop. The issue is that our hands have seized around the handle of the hod and returning them to their regular dexterity requires much flexing and massaging.

When it comes to drywall, there are a variety of tools people choose to hold their paste. Some work directly from a bucket. Others use a mudpan. I grew up using a hod, so that’s what we use now.

Once I cross the three hour mark of pasting, I don’t think it matters what’s holding my paste. At that point, my hands have cramped. As long as I keep working, I don’t feel it too much. As soon as I set the hod down, though, that’s when I realize how tired my hands are.

Matt in action

Fortunately, by the next morning, I’ve usually regained most of my range of motion.

Even more fortunately, thanks to our concentrated efforts this week, we’re nearing the end on this pasting odyssey and will soon be setting down our hods. Hopefully, our hands recover from their case of hod claw shortly thereafter.

Any other DIYers out there who use a hod for drywalling? Have you ever been afflicted with hod claw? Or do you have your own unique DIY injuries?

Tool time

Posted on July 5, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Another Friday, another quiz. However today you don’t have to wait until next week for the answer.

It’s very simple. Only one question.

Name this tool.

We used this a lot when we were demolishing the basement.

If you said crowbar, I’m sorry, but you are very, very wrong.

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a wrecking bar. My Dad trained us all very early. If we were working with him and we asked, “Can you pass me the crowbar?” or “Where’s the crowbar?” the response would be something along the lines of “What are you looking for?” or “What is it you need?” If he was feeling a little more generous, he would perhaps just say, “What did you call it?”

Don’t get me wrong, we used crowbars as well, but a crowbar is a straight bar in our family. A wrecking bar is recognizable by its distinctive hooked end.

The curved end of the wrecking bar can be used for prying, and the fork is also useful for pulling nails.

The other end of the wrecking bar is a chisel.

Like the hook, the chisel end is also used for prying, although you have slightly less leverage.

Wikipedia confirms my Dad’s label and offers an explanation of why this tool is so often called a crowbar.

In the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia, “crowbar” may occasionally be used loosely for this tool, but may also be used to mean a larger straighter tool.

Ahhh, so my Dad is calling on his previously unknown Australian heritage when he insists that we use the label “wrecking bar.”

How’d you do on the quiz? If my brother and sisters didn’t get this right, I’m sorry to tell you that Dad has now disowned you. Anyone else out there have a term that’s unique to your family?

Wiley goes to work

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Up until this past weekend, we hadn’t really cut the grass at the farm yet this year.

Yes, we are those neighbours.

A few weeks ago, Matt ran around the house a few times with our push mower until it ran out of gas, but that was it.

Things were starting to look a bit unkempt.

And then last week, Wiley arrived.

Sunday, we fired him up and got busy.

First up, Matt and Wiley moved a pile of lumber up to the barn.

Matt and I have done a couple of walk-abouts recently picking up wood and sticks and rocks so that Wiley doesn’t hit anything and damage his blades. We still kept his mower really high, and I did all of the edging with our old push mower so that Wiley didn’t have to get too close to anything that might hurt him.

Yes, the grass was a little long–so long that we can probably bale the clippings on the driveway and Matt had to raise the bucket to see where he was cutting.

I’ve learned that the term “lawn” doesn’t really apply on such a large property. Grass cutting is more of a question of “Where do I stop?”

Matt and Wiley mowing the meadow down by the road.

Wiley is a good little worker. He cut grass, moved stumps and logs and even gave me a ride in the bucket.

Of course, his driver pretended he was going to tip me out of the bucket, but that wasn’t Wiley’s fault.

Once Wiley was done his work, Matt and his Dad went to work with their matching weed whackers and continued the battle to beat back the invading horde. There’s a manifest destiny thing going on in the fields, and the hay is definitely looking to expand its territory.

The property looks a little more groomed, and I feel like we’re making headway in tidying up the outdoors. Well done, Wiley and Matt.

This weekend it’s my turn to drive. Wiley better get ready.

What’s your mode of mowing? Anyone out there muscling along with a reel mower? Or are you a weed-whacking wizard?

Welcome Wiley

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Julia at Home on 129 Acres

Hi, I’m Wiley

Matt and I are proud to announce the arrival of our newest family member. Wiley is 1.5 hours old (tractor’s “odometres” count in hours, not kilometres). He is 7 feet high, 8 feet long and 4 feet wide, although he’s bigger when he’s wearing his loader, blower or mower.