DIY projects

As you know, the Marineland 400g is pretty heavy. It took 8 of us to lift it into position and place it on the stand. It took four of us to carry the stand in. Combined, it's probably 1600 lbs. I'm home alone, and I want to shift it into position, aligned with the walls of the house.

Being an only child, the one thing I've always been good at is coming up with a way to do it myself and not wait until someone can come over. I appreciate the help, but I hate waiting if there's an ...

Today, I created this quickie shelving in the garage to give me some floor space back. It was crammed with everything in the way and I needed this anyway.



Then I ran down to Harbor Freight to buy a new can jack. There were a lot of options, but this 12 ton looked like it would handle the task. It was on sale for $24.99, and when I got to the register I found an unused 20% off coupon sitting there. I asked ...

After yesterday's discussion, I decided to get that ceiling pulled out quickly before it warmed up outside. Wearing a facemask, I climbed up into the attic and played joust with a whisk broom vs the fluffy stuff. It grudgingly abated somewhat, but not all of course. Here's where we left off yesterday...


My son joined me in the actual teardown of the two layers of sheetrock, exposing the joists and raining down ...

I must be a glutton for punishment. I keep looking at the new fishroom's ceiling, and I think I want to pull down the old sheetrock entirely for new. If I do that, all the snow-like (and not so snow-like) insulation is absolutely going to fall down around me. I just think it will look a lot better overall with brand new sheets. The room is around 9' x 12' so I'm looking at 4 sheets on the ceiling, plus getting that insulation up there or buying more to replace it. The white stuff isn't old ...

Today was the day, after all the preparation. My son was awake and ready to start as soon as I showed up with the concrete mixer. He and I both knew it was going to be hard work, but I know that he now knows just how much concrete workers go through every single day.

Here he is, ready to go. The mixer was a rental from Home Depot Tools, and could hold seven 80lb bags per batch. Look at that pile to his left.
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