Davecn5

How'd the siding go? Hardi is good stuff! Looking to do it on my garage once I finish the house. I've been hanging out with a Demag AC1200 500 ton capacity crane at work for the last couple of weeks. Still amazing to watch every day.

tareed94

It went really well! We got the one side done, but haven't had time to do another side yet. We are planning on this weekend, but may have to run up to Arkansas. My great grandma has been on the last leg for a while now and as of today has been without food/water for 10 days because she is unable to swallow anymore. It's time for her. If it's not a weekend funeral I won't be able to make it. So if the funeral isn't on Saturday I'll be doing another side.

I just ordered blinds for most of my windows from Lowes because they were offering 25% off of Bali blinds. I went with wood blinds that are painted white, the Faux Wood feel so flimsy. That's what's in the house currently and they're warped from the sun, so I have no intention of going back with them. They're a good bit cheaper, but I'd rather have the more expensive and not have to deal with them warping.

tareed94

Hit my first house project that went wildly outside of budget last weekend. Got the siding pulled off and found a good bit of rotten wood, which was bad enough. Then we realized that the wood couldn't be replaced/repaired without removing the old single pane windows, so I scrambled to find some 4'x4' double pane windows on Saturday. Lowe's came in clutch for me, got double pane sliding windows for $162 each. The setbacks we encountered bumped the $300 project to around $900, and seriously slowed down the process so that portion still isn't done. I have windows installed, we had to do a double layer of 15/32 plywood to space the windows out to retain the interior sills, home wrap is installed, and some siding has been done on it. I did get a new tool though which is more exciting than it should be. Lol. To attach the Tyvek Home Wrap I'm using regular staples and taping over them with Tyvek tape (per manufacturer instructions), I could use cap nails/staples but I don't have anything to shoot them with. The first side was done with a standard staple gun, which sucked. For this one I found an Arrow air powered staple gun, that thing is awesome and was $35 at Home Depot. The cheapest cap nailer or cap stapler I could find was $200+ and I wasn't paying that.

Truck projects are on the back burner as I am scrambling to do as much siding as I can get done before the summer hits and we're at 95-100 degrees with humidity. I'm planning a full exhaust system of dual 2.5" with an x-pipe, two varex mufflers, and a bluetooth control box for them. I'd like to be able to control the volume of my exhaust so when I come home at odd hours or leave early, I'm not disturbing my neighbors, yet I can still have the exhaust sound that I want.

johnday in BFE

iTrader: (1)

Good to hear you're making headway. What you've run into, is one of the reasons I gave up remodeling, and went new construction only. And that could be nerve racking tying into the original house and foundation. Never know what you might find, especially if "Joe Home Owner" fancied himself to be "handy".

andrewdod

That's the worst glad you did it the right way. No sense in doing it twice. My harbor freight air stapler was 25 bucks does the trick. Those things are a life saver.

Davecn5

Do it once, do it right! I had to do the same thing when I ripped out all the windows in my house. They were aluminum single pane and most were cracked. It's amazing how much just putting in new windows can reduce the amount your AC/Furnace runs. It's fun getting new tools, isn't it? LOL. I have an pneumatic stapler as well for the exact same thing, but also carry a staple hammer as well. We need some dang pics man!

tareed94

This guy wasn't even the slightest bit handy. He repaired a hole in the wall and you can perfectly see the edges of whatever he filled it with, he had a chain over a rafter in the garage which looks like he knocked the hole in the ceiling with a hammer, and this siding is original. I wanted to get a house that hadn't been remodeled, and new construction I could afford was like 1300sqft which ain't fun and they have tiny yards. This siding is strange, it honestly seems like cardboard, so once water got behind there it was holding water against bare wood (builders didn't put their asphalt paper over everything) which caused big problems. I'll upload some pictures later of what it's looking like now. I enjoy building things and doing projects so it's fun, but it'd be more helpful if I had a second set of hands all the time instead of relying on my parents to come over after my dad gets off work.

Yeah I almost didn't have a choice but to put the old windows back in. Apparently no glass shops are open Saturdays, Home Depot doesn't stock anything in a 4' width, but Lowe's had one type in the 4' width. I had even thought about leaving it with home wrap while I ordered windows, thankfully I didn't have to go that route. That home wrap stuff is CRAZY loud when it moves. Air staplers are awesome. Can't believe I waited this long to get one especially since they're pretty cheap.

johnday in BFE

iTrader: (1)

Two hands, oh ya. When I retired from the power company, I was going to come up here and start another higher end building company. My last few years down there, I was building this place too, and found out rather quickly that reliable help was not to be found.

tareed94

Yeah it's so helpful. I've done a lot of stuff on my own, but it'd be easier just having a second set of hands, regardless of if they have skill or not. Often I just need help lifting awkward sized items, or to help hold something in place. I may be renting a mini excavator soon to get these damn sago palm stumps out. Pulled on them with the truck and they broke off at the ground. Seems you have to dig out the root ball or it will grow back. Multiple people commented that they have pretty shallow roots, but I got down to knee deep the other day and still don't see any of the root ball.

Davecn5

If you do rent an excavator, make sure to get one with a thumb. Makes ripping stumps/roots out 1,000 times easier. Do some checking around too. We rent a lot of equipment for work and sometimes you can get a mini Backhoe (Kubota BX series) with a thumb for a lot cheaper than a mini excavator and you'll do less damage to your yard with a backhoe than an excavator.