A Weekend Full of Projects

"TheRealBicycleBuck" (therealbicyclebuck) 05/26/2020 at 09:12 • Filed to: None

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Despite the random rain showers, this was a pretty productive weekend. It started with tires. This is the sidewall of a worn out lawn trailer tire.

T he dry rot is getting out of hand and it won’t hold air any more. This is on the little dump trailer I inherited from my mom, so there’s no telling how long this tire has been in service. I went online and found replacements for $35 apiece. Two tires ordered. Expect a post about mounting new tires in the future.

Meanwhile, back in the house, I had another project running. I have four old hard drives that have various personal documents and photo archives. I transferred them out as the computers were replaced, but the “big” external drive is full and my wife was worried that I may have missed something.

So, one new external drive, one drive adapter, and a whole lot of file transfers later, I now have a new place for her to sort through and organize all of the electronic records of our life together.

While I was stuck inside during the rain and the computer was doing its thing, I decided to tackle the big hole in the wall.

While I was marking out the lines for the patch, the a/c kicked on and I was surprised to discover a cool breeze coming through the wall! So, I made the cuts to get some room, then stuck a camera inside to see if I could identify the source of the conditioned air.

Aha! That wire up there goes to one of the wall-mounted light fixtures in the master bath. Off to the bathroom to find out why so much air was moving through what should be a tiny hole.

I guess that explains it. I’m not sure why they needed two big holes to run a single light fixture, but now that my wife knows it’s there, it must be sealed. It was back to the office for me so I could finish the repair to the first hole. I had a fiberglass reinforced aluminum drywall patch on hand, so the next step was to cut it down to size.

These patches are self-adhesive, so once the backing is removed, it just sticks to the wall.

After a test fit and a bit more trimming, a layer of spackle (patching plaster) was applied and let dry. This batch was really wet, so I had to put the fan on it and let it sit overnight.

It will get sanded down today and another skim coat will be applied. I ordered a can of texture to replicate the orange peel, so this job will be on hold until that arrives.

I’m not a fan of these patches because it’s really difficult to make the patch disappear. There’s usually a visible lump on the wall even if you run the skim coat out a foot or more. The only way to prevent it is to use a new piece of drywall and cut it so the paper blends properly. I was planning to do that with the patch, but the damage knocked the drywall loose on the back side while leaving the paper intact. I didn’t realize the problem until after I’d already cut the patch. We’ll see how it goes, but I have the feeling that I’ll be doing this job again.

For those following the saga of the cabinets, I added a generous helping of wood filler and sanded them smooth. I just forgot to take pictures after the sanding was complete.

This was after the first coat of wood filler . After sanding, I filled in the last of the divots and hit it with the s ander again. Both cabinets will get final repairs and finish sanding this week in preparation for paint next weekend (weather permitting).

There were a few other things going on around the house. It can’t be a long weekend without a bunch of projects to fill the time. It’s good to be back at work, although that patch on the wall in my office is calling to me....

punkgoose17 > TheRealBicycleBuck 05/26/2020 at 09:26

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For those patches I found that if you sand down the holed area so the patch is recessed then fill it with the skim coat.

TheRealBicycleBuck > punkgoose17 05/26/2020 at 09:34

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That’s what I was trying to describe. The plan was to remove the outside inch of paper so the mesh sits flush with the surrounding wall, but I did things in the wrong order and only discovered after I had already cut down the patch that the gypsum behind the paper was cracked and loose. I realized it when I went to pull the paper off. Whoops.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > TheRealBicycleBuck 05/26/2020 at 10:17

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I completely blew off Saturday and went kayaking on Lake James . Yesterday, after picking up a carb kit for the Rover, I tried to work on adjusting some posts with cross beams for a shed area we’re doing... and while the posts tweaked to where they needed to be pretty easily, I then had endless problems with the welder.

Couldn’t find cables and things, spent time looking for what I needed, lost some time there. The first battery I tried wouldn’t start it, trying to use a charger with that battery didn’t start it (and highlighted that the charger was kind of defective), then the first battery started leaking (!), so I set it aside, managed to locate another battery.... and it just would. not. start. Ended up tracking it down to “no spark while cranking”. Slightly low battery voltage possibly paired with failing ignition module, huzzah. As previously established, charger was derping, so wouldn’t recharge the battery. Eventually put it on a trickle charger long enough to establish I *did* have weak spark when the charge came up... but by then it was too late to weld.

Yesterday sucked.

TheRealBicycleBuck > RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht 05/26/2020 at 10:42

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Oof. I at least felt like I accomplished something. I spent part of Saturday morning searching for tools I needed too . It reminded me that I really need to get the storage building finished so I can reorganize my tools.

functionoverfashion > TheRealBicycleBuck 05/26/2020 at 11:30

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We did a ton of landscape work / planting over the weekend, including 5 fruit trees. My back, legs, arms, everything is sore from digging those holes. My wife is sore from spreading a yard of bark mulch; at least the kids helped a little with that job! Then today a friend asked if I wanted 3 cord of semi-seasoned oak firewood, for cheap. Of course! Now I have a lot of stacking to do. 

TheRealBicycleBuck > functionoverfashion 05/26/2020 at 12:29

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At the behest of my wife, I removed the dirt from the holes we dug for the foundation blocks under the storage building. That’s why I needed the trailer to be functional in the first place. I was lucky that the tires held air long enough to load up the dirt and move it out of sight. Now I need to mix that dirt with some sand so I can spread it in the back yard. It’s mostly clay, so I’m really not looking forward to that chore.

That’s the dirt and the tarp, but that’s not the trailer I used. Here’s t he trailer. It’s a dump bed, so getting the dirt out isn’t such a chore.