Random Thoughts [Home Improvement/Decorating Edition]

[NecroJoe]

How about something like a sliding barn door that covers openings? It could only cover <50% of the overall unit's width, but it could be relatively low profile and allow you to keep some cabinets always visible, while protecting others.

There are also tambour door kits, but they depend on there being an overhanging face frame to the cabinet.

15 in. x 18 in. Veneer Tambour Door Kit, Red Oak

Features:- Unfinished Red Oak- Wood Veneer- Overall Dimensions: 15 in. Slat Length x 18 in. Door Height x 18 in. Track Height- Wood Veneer Tambour Dimensions: 1/2 in. x 7/32 in.- Includes Quality Tambour Door with Hand Pull and Spring Tension Tambour Track System- Consists of Two PVC Guide...

www.cshardware.com

 

[Matt2000]

I hadn't thought about covering the entire front, that's possible too. There isn't space for a sliding door that goes to the side as the unit lives in a recess but I could maybe have something that goes up and down. Maybe even something as simple as a blind that covers it.

I've found similar plastic tambour kits that come with tracks, these can be face mounted inside the cube and it's all push fit plastic.

They're a bit expensive and annoyingly the largest size they have on Amazon is 640x650mm, just too narrow for two covers per width and a little too short for two covers over the length. They also do 340mm width which would be ideal but it's still a little short to get two from the 650mm length.

The kit is quite expensive on Amazon, just buying the drops directly from the manufacturer is considerably cheaper. They're apparently sold out of all the track pieces though...

 

[NecroJoe]

Seven. Seven. It took SEVEN stops at hardware stores today to complete the replacement of this drain and p-trap. SSSEEEVVVEEENNN!!!

Stop 1: Went to Lowe's to buy the parts. Their plumbing section was such a shit show, with nearly every package in the wrong spot, opened, out-of-stock...I just gave up and went the few extra miles to Home Depot.

Stop 2: Found the parts I needed, and went home.

Realized I mistakenly bought an extension and not a drain stem. It's like if I needed a specific power cord but I bought an extension cord.

Stop 3: Went back to Home depot to buy the right part. I even bought 2 of them, because I knew I was going to have to cut it and didn't want to have to go back incase I messed it up. I even bought a new fine-toothed metal cutting blade just in case I didn't have a good one. Then, went home.

After taking off the corroded/damaged parts, I now see that the drain/strainer itself is effe'd up too, even though it initially looked fine. So...

Stop 4: Back to Home Depot to buy a replacement drain/strainer.

I get home, and now that she's free, I ask my girlfriend to help me remove the drain/strainer. We can't get it. There's too much corrosion, and neither of us can get a good enough grip on the two pieces to unscrew them. So...

Stop 5: I go back to Lowe's, since it's closer, and buy a universal drain removal tool, and go home.

Well it turns out...

Stop 6: Go to Home Depot to buy a *kitchen* drain removal tool, because the "universal drain removal tool" isn't "universal" enough to include kitchen drains. So then I go home.

I finally have everything I need. I cut the piece I need to cut (bang-on perfect length the first try), start piecing things together, open up my container of Oatey plumber's putty, and..

Stop 7: Go to Lowe's to pick up a replacement container of putty, since mine was opened a couple of years ago and hard as a rock.

 

[Matt2000]

That's probably how it would've gone for me, I'm bad at remembering to check something (like the putty) or remembering to get the right parts.

I thought every home in the US had a finger mincing waste disposal though?

 

[NecroJoe]

That's probably how it would've gone for me, I'm bad at remembering to check something (like the putty) or remembering to get the right parts.

I thought every home in the US had a finger mincing waste disposal though?

We're too nervous about drain problems between the kitchen and the street waste pipes. We know this run of pipe is compromised a bit and won't want to add to that problem. Our city collects compost waste, so we don't feel like our food scraps are going to a landfill anyway, so there's less incentive. Our home was built in the 50s and one wasn't installed the last time the kitchen was re-done (by a "flipper" company), and we never put one in.

Well...all that, plus Amityville 4: The Horror Escapes.

View: https://youtu.be/lrkE5cd8Bno

 

[Matt2000]

I did the tambour door thing! Just as a reminder, I wanted doors on some of my Kallax style cubes to protect the contents from sunlight and to neaten up the cubes. I decided against turning the whole thing into a giant advent calendar and bought this kit

I ordered the 640x650mm kit, which theoretically gives me four doors. These cubes are 33.5x33cm, getting four out of the material would leave me with doors that are 32cm wide and (on paper) 32.5mm tall. It's made of plastic parts that are cut to length and then they just slide together, the only things that stop the pieces sliding apart are two strips of glass-fibre reinforced tape running down the back.

There are 16 segments followed by the bottom finger pull bit, so when split vertically you actually get a lower piece that's 33.5cm with the finger pull and an upper piece that's 31.5cm. I need to 3D print or otherwise find a finger pull for the upper section, but that's for later. I cut the fabric tape so that I could slide the upper and lower sections apart, then committed to cutting the lower section in half horizontally on my bandsaw. The sliding sled I made this an easy job and the thin kerf of the blade meant I didn't lose much material.



The first mock up with the cube, dimensions look good. This is the point where I realised that it was longer than I expected, thanks to the extra finger pull segment at the bottom.



Tracks fitted in place. The door is too narrow, but can be centred. The gap at the top is acceptable, practically invisible without a light inside.



With the door pushed over, the gap is clear. The door would fall out of the tracks.



I could make spacers for the tracks, but I'm already compromising what I can put in this cube and didn't want to do that any more. I started playing around with screws and wall plugs, the theory worked and I found some screws that fitted in the rails perfectly. The first type were pan head and would catch on the fixing screws that are sunk in the rails, but the second type were countersunk so were flat where they met the inside of the track.

No combination of wall plugs I had was working properly, so I just 3D printed some pieces that fit snugly within the plastic extrusion. They have a hole down the centre for the screw and a hole at the end for a small fixing screw to hold them in place. This will go in from the back so it can't be seen and I used a common computer screw because I have so many of them. As I'm using screws, the width and alignment within the tracks is infinitely adjustable.




Just need to 3D print some more and I can test it. I have no idea how I would go about 3D printing that finger pull part you see in the picture above, definitely something I will have to make up as I go along.

 

[NecroJoe]

That's looking great!!

I found some screws that fitted in the rails perfectly. The first type were pan head and would catch on the fixing screws that are sunk in the rails, but the second type were countersunk so were flat where they met the inside of the track.

This is such a pet peeve of mine. I have a whole drawer of pan-head machine screws, because it seems like almost every time I need to buy a wall anchor of some sort, I actually need it to have a countersink-style tapered head, so I end up having to buy the whole anchor set, and pull it open in the screw to check the screw size, and then buy a second package of screws to fit it, with the right head.

 

[eizbaer]

Multiple things…

1. That stupid besta sideboard isn’t supposed to be flying. Either on the floor or on some ugly ass feet. Mount it to the wall anyway with surplus IKEA kitchen mounting hardware. Waiting for it to come crashing down. [disclaimer: we live in a prefab, so our walls are sort of drywall only - but there is a nice chipboard underneath the plaster to just screw into, rather than try and find the studs]
2. All the IKEA top board things were made of paper and looked like it. So I got a nice piece of oak, put a 15° chamfer on the front and cut it 4 cm short. a: in order not to have to cut out the little cable pass through in the rear middle and b: in order to hide cables and possibly ALL THE RGB back there.
3. Put the tv on the wall because… well see 1. also it allows for more rotation of the tv towards the couch which is off to one side.

Gotta figure out what to do with those subwoofers, they do look a bit out of place…

 

[Dr_Grip]

Went to a second hand/vintage store in a nearby town to buy a cheap cabinet.

Came home with an expensive coffee table:

 

[DanRoM]

Task failed successfully.

 

[leviathan]

Not sure this counts as home improvement in the classic sense, but it's in my home and I consider it an improvement, so here

Never been a huge fan of going to the gym, but I did some core strength training a while back and figured it's something I'd like to get back to. Ever since moving places last summer, I've been planning this room as a "mixed hobby room" of sorts, and now I've finally fulfilled the plan and put in a barbell setup that I wanted. Combined squat rack, pull-up bar, with handles for dips and a bench, complete with solid height-adjustible J-hooks and spotter bars. 180cm bar and some weights, and all I need now is to make it a routine to actually use this stuff

Here's the setup in bench press mode, with some rather pathetic weights on the bar to start out with. One modification I've done almost immediately is to put hard rubber strips on the J- and safety hooks, to prevent loud clanging noises when putting the bar down. The floor mats are also the same hard rubber stuff and not the usual foam - a fair bit more expensive, but also much more rugged, and they don't flatten under the weight over time. They also deaden the noise from the whole setup quite well, imho perfect for home gym use.

 

[eizbaer]

I'VE BEEN SLACKING IN HERE! Anyway I'll be back tomorrow because we're getting our heat pump installed.
... also I just lost my pre-typed draft, what the hell.

Anyway, we got some new stairs to replace the nightmare that is just barely visible in this post here on the left. It was creaky, it was skewed, it was probably going to fall apart soon. Also it was all wrong as it was open to the basement, which somehow messed up all the effects of the ceilling-insulation we put down there. so now, closed off. since we have to finish the walls (plaster, paint) still, we left the protective cardboard on the steps. they're oak and match the floor surprisingly well.


also we got a new metering cabinet in preparation for the heat pump and photovoltaics (supposedly late april) to replace that old piece of garbage seen on the left there. that hole in the wall will be closed up, probably also hide all those cables somewhere in there (left intentionally long because we didn't know where everything would go). Also with those two separate fuse boxes to the left we should be set for any electricity shenanigans.


edit: also check out what that kitchen from that post back there (same as above) turned into... (old picture, all the kitchen fronts are on and the tape is gone yadda yadda):

 

[eizbaer]

I’M BACK AGAIN… today I even did some work cleaning up the front garden because the heat pump people did a right number on it for their foundation and condensate drainage thing (runs underground for 1.5m across).



Yes it’s right in front of my office window, the angle of the Foto is weird, you can see it, but it doesn’t actually cover/block the window (except for nosy passersby - so I count that as a win).

 

[eizbaer]

Here we go again!

As discussed in the Power Tools Thread, we made an art! Also matching socks whatever!

 

[Matt2000]

I've decided that it looks like you took the centres out of giant coloured pencils. Or stacked rows of LEGO bricks.

 

[eizbaer]

Or stacked rows of LEGO bricks.

... that... is actually an excellent idea

 

[Matt2000]

... that... is actually an excellent idea

I avoided saying that it might've been easier.

Of course finding as many colours would've been tedious and it would've been more expensive. With LEGO brick rows you could also make shelves (mini versions of the IKEA Lack shelf stack) that would be ideal for a strip of 00/HO model railway track, should you want such a thing. I forget who would display model trains in their house, apart from me and @93Flareside.

After having 'display' shelves in my knock-off Ikea Kallax for years that were just empty cubes with bits of acrylic on 3D printed brackets and/or DVD cases, I finally got some proper Kallax glass display cases on Saturday and had some LED strip lights ready. These should finally keep dust off the things I want to display and the lights are plugged into an Energenie remote controlled power strip to sync them with the room lights - sort of.

Stuff needs adding and maybe rearranging but so far I've added some Robot Wars items and model trains, which is the main reason I'm mentioning it.


More Robot Wars stuff to be added at some point, the thing in the case was a Robot Wars Club item.



From left to right - Clockwork Thomas train (my first 00 gauge model train), first electric model train, old Triang Class 08 my dad had (potentially valuable in such nice condition), Hornby Flying Scotsman and an HST are just my favourites from my old collection.

Yes, that's the singing lobster underneath.

 

[eizbaer]

I avoided saying that it might've been easier.

well... from a "having to think about it" perspective, sure. but that thing there was actually surprisingly little actual work. the sawing was done in maybe 15 minutes total incl. setting everything up and cleaning it away again afterwards. quick sanding and painting maybe half an hour for each me and my wife and then maybe another 15 minutes just glueing it all to a piece of particle board (incl figuring out the totally random sequence of colours). all in all, 3 hours of actual doing things and it's up on the wall (plus a bunch of waiting in between).

regarding price: lego would probably beat even just buying the finished thing from etsy for 500 bucks

knock-off Ikea Kallax

... why... why does that even exist? because it's better quality and not made of cardboard? and they're actually the exact right size (seeing as the inserts fit)? i would never have guessed that would exist somewhere

From left to right - Clockwork Thomas train (my first 00 gauge model train), first electric model train, old Triang Class 08 my dad had (potentially valuable in such nice condition), Hornby Flying Scotsman and an HST are just my favourites from my old collection.

wouldn't a proper crazy collector kind of person put fitting pieces of rail underneath those trains? ... i know my uncles do that in their display cases.

 

[Matt2000]

I think what you've go there is great. LEGO would most likely still be cheaper that the Etsy seller, especially if you used standard 2x4 bricks and bought lots of used stuff.

... why... why does that even exist? because it's better quality and not made of cardboard? and they're actually the exact right size (seeing as the inserts fit)? i would never have guessed that would exist somewhere

It's what our local hardware store had, it's actually more expensive than a real Kallax but I don't have an Ikea nearby. The one I went to on Saturday was around 2 hours away, where my sister lives. I was unsure about the sizing but it's exact, a damn snug fit too. Not sure if it's better than a Kallak but it seems to be decent quality. Seems like they get away with it as Ikea don't operate in New Zealand, where these Clever Cubes originate from. How they got here is anyone's guess.

wouldn't a proper crazy collector kind of person put fitting pieces of rail underneath those trains? ... i know my uncles do that in their display cases.

I fit the description, was planning to do that once I can get the old pieces of rail out of storage.

I forgot to say that I'm hoping the glass will block most of the UV rays that would cause items to fade.

 

[eizbaer]

NEEEEXT!
... I still need to put some little trussing kind of thing underneath that tarp on the sandpit, so there's not always a giant puddle on top. Also have to do something about that roof maybe, it's currently just drenched in some random wood preservation stuffs.