TOO Projects Thread

[bowhunter1023]

Speaking of electrical issues, I had to tackle a couple of different gremlins over the past week and I got my ass whipped in the process. Started with flickering lights in the garage and kitchen. We had a couple space heaters on the garage circuit, but it wasn't tripping a breaker and even after unplugging them, the issue persisted. So I replaced the switch, which is 29 years old at this point, but that wasn't the issue. I didn't have time to chase it down any further until I came home the other day and the garage door wouldn't open. No power to the circuit, but the breaker wasn't tripped. I reset it 3 times before power came back, so I ran to town and got 2 new breakers, one for that circuit and one for the kitchen. The new breaker fixed the garage, but not the kitchen. So back to the drawing board...

Again, I replaced the switch to no avail. I tightened all the new LED retrofit can lights to make sure I had them tight. That wasn't it. Pulled the new light/fan combo I installed last week and you guessed it, that wasn't it. Finally called my dad who wired the house and he was convinced it was a neutral issue, so I pulled every outlet and switch on the circuit to double check all the neutral connections. By process of elimination, I worked backwards (lesson learned) to the problem. The neutral for that circuit was effectively disconnected from the buss bar in the service panel. Somehow, over 29 years, that screw worked itself out and the wire was just barely in contact with the bar. I called dad back and said "next time you say 'start at the beginning' maybe say that first and not last"

 

[finelyshedded]

Speaking of electrical issues, I had to tackle a couple of different gremlins over the past week and I got my ass whipped in the process. Started with flickering lights in the garage and kitchen. We had a couple space heaters on the garage circuit, but it wasn't tripping a breaker and even after unplugging them, the issue persisted. So I replaced the switch, which is 29 years old at this point, but that wasn't the issue. I didn't have time to chase it down any further until I came home the other day and the garage door wouldn't open. No power to the circuit, but the breaker wasn't tripped. I reset it 3 times before power came back, so I ran to town and got 2 new breakers, one for that circuit and one for the kitchen. The new breaker fixed the garage, but not the kitchen. So back to the drawing board...

Again, I replaced the switch to no avail. I tightened all the new LED retrofit can lights to make sure I had them tight. That wasn't it. Pulled the new light/fan combo I installed last week and you guessed it, that wasn't it. Finally called my dad who wired the house and he was convinced it was a neutral issue, so I pulled every outlet and switch on the circuit to double check all the neutral connections. By process of elimination, I worked backwards (lesson learned) to the problem. The neutral for that circuit was effectively disconnected from the buss bar in the service panel. Somehow, over 29 years, that screw worked itself out and the wire was just barely in contact with the bar. I called dad back and said "next time you say 'start at the beginning' maybe say that first and not last"

Dang man! Imagine all the time you woulda saved starting at the panel! Great lesson learnt though. I’ve learnt the hard way more times than I care to remember over the years.

 

[bowhunter1023]

I'll admit to following the ChatGPT order of operations rather than calling dad. I'm a stubborn fuck if you haven't noticed

 

[giles]

Just be happy neither ended with a fire. Nice work figuring it out

 

[Dustinb80]

I'm in the process of updating. New carpet and paint. Replacing all of the outlets and switches and can lights. Looks like everything is going to fall into place. Carpet gets pulled out on Monday, March 3rd, then I'll put down a few coats of primer and sealer then on Tuesday the 4th, the new carpet gets installed. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday is paint. Saturday the 8th my new couch gets delivered. Sold my loveseat today. Still have a few more things to get rid of before the carpet gets replaced, less shit to move.

 

[bowhunter1023]

Decided the original set of shelves needed reworked to make it easier to get my smoker and griddle in/out, so I rebuilt them to fit over those, while allowing room to store the cooler at one level, and storage totes up top. Had about 1" to spare and everything fit like a glove.

There were no outlets on this wall, so we had an extension cord with a power strip there to power the fridge and anything else we plugged into it. After I demo'd and cleaned the wall last night, I decided to fix the electrical. Took the girls to town for lunch and grabbed two GFCIs and conduit to fix that issue. The girls also helped build the shelves, which are 4" deeper than the last set, which will allow me to use the more/bigger totes by turning them length ways.

Now to clean and reorg the rest of it!

 

[hickslawns]

I accepted a bid to put a metal roof on a pole barn that is 5 years overdue. After making that commitment, my wife asked about redoing the down stairs. Told her I'm tapped out but we can do countertops and I'll fix the junk base under our kitchen sink. Told her I could repair the sink over the weekend. I wasn't as ambitious as Jesse though. I did manage to accomplish a little bit of nothing though.

Looks good Jesse.

 

[bowhunter1023]

I saw this on FB and the wife liked it, but now that I built and put it in place, I already want to rebuild it. For another couple hours and $20 in materials, I can do much better. But for not having plans, it's acceptable. We can at least see if we like it, then I can improve my design. This is what you need in a house full of couch potatoes with too many electronics to plug in and too many insulated tumblers!

 

[Stressless]

I've seen bluebirds at the farm and at home, Mrs mentioned she liked seeing them. 37 years of wedded bliss.. i.e., living with me, I'm always looking for something to help her smile.

Found these and yes you could build them but for $17/per you can't hardly by the board ft let alone the time $ invested.

Link for houses, https://a.co/d/7lV047t

Wanted them to last so used linseed oil on the end grain and exterior sides.

Bought 7' T posts to mount then on, to make a predator guard 1 1/2" schd 40 PVC. For a 7' T posts 4.5' of PVC works good.

You smart guys prolly have a better method to mount the house to the T-post.

Used 2 1/4" x 2' SS bolts. Drilled two 7/16" holes and hit the raw steel with some rustoleum I had.

Had some 2x2's laying around so used that as dead wood to mount the post and birdhouse to the 2x2.

Put four up in OH last week, had bluebirds in two before I left Sat. Put 4 up in b4 I left two weeks ago Sunday, lol birds were on a wait list it seems as Bluebirds in one, no eggs yet and Chickadee in one, 5 wee tiny eggs. I think each egg is about half the size of a dime.