New Windows and Door

We are getting two new windows and a replacing the sliding glass door. I had to head off to work, but here are some pics of the windows getting replaced. They all had broken seals and dirt and condensation inside them. Will add pics of the replacement door when I get home.

Remodelling My parents Kitchen

For Christmas we desided to update my parent's kitchen so that it will be more sellable next year when they retire.




Here's a pic of the kitchen before replacing the counters, sink and dishwasher:






Here's another pic with the cabinets removed to be cleaned and lightly sanded. They did not get painted at this time as the weather went south, and snowed.



In removing the counter, we had to remove the bottom row of tiles because the new counter is 3/4 of an inch taller, and what looked like a little metal "L" trim actually went under the tiles and was nailed to the wall. This was one thing that was not expected and took some extra time to get those tiles off without destroying the other ones. We have no plan of replacing all the tiles in the kitchen.




Once the old counter was off, the new one fit like a glove (not a bloody, this glove's too small kind of glove, but a nice well-fitted one).





The counter came with the sink hole only partially routed out so that it remained strong in transit, so I had to use a sabersaw to cut that out. No sweat.


The next unexpected pain was getting the counter screwed down to the cabinets as working in the tight cabinets really required a contortionist.



Here I am working under the sink to get the water connections setup.









Here's the counter and sink done:





And here is the finished product. The old dishwasher is on right and got taken out the next day. That really opened up the the room.


The cabinets still need painting, and a new row of tiles that will tie-in the counter, walls and cabinet colors.

Those Home Improvement Projects

So, we got this new ceiling light fixture to provide reading light while in bed a while ago, and so I finally decided to tackle it on Sunday. The complexity of the project was that there was not fixture there before, and it is being installed in a ceiling of a bay window.
luckily, the main roof is the bay window roof too, so there was access to the attic. So I cut my hole, pushed a bunch of wire up it, and then went to the attic to pull it over to where the light switch is. Murphy's Law kicked in and the wire had gotten hung up on a roofing nail. So, now I had to go body surfing head first down the vaulted ceiling to were the roof and ceiling meet to fetch the wire. Even though it was cool on Sunday, it was still sopping wet with sweat hot in the attic.
Figure 1

The rest of the installation went smoothly. I ran the wire to the existing switch box in the room and added a switch fixture with three switches and a dimmer.

The New Driveway

So we'd had enough with the old drive way. The ground beneath it had settled
since the house was constructed 13 years ago, and had left a big trench. One of
the slabs had broken and was still ok to drive on until the roofing people
drove their hugh dump truck on to it and really broke it. Now I could not even
drive on it without bottoming out the nose of the car.

So, we got St. Louis Concrete to come out and replace it.

First they came in with this machine that punched holes in the drive way. It works like a guillotine.

Then a quick clean up. On to grading and filling in the trench.

Laying the gravel base. Pouring and leveling the cement. Smoothing and texturing.

Finishing of the Faux Brick trim (Which really looks great!)

The final product.

Sealing the Garage Floor is Fun, Really

Yesterday, we had a sealing the garage floor party. Heather and Jamie came over to help. Overall, it went down quick with little mess.

Unfortunately, it rained last night and managed to get in and fill in some of the depressions. Will have to see it needs resealing by the door.















Overall it looks good though.

Somehow, either last night, or after I left for work, some drops of the epoxy paint got on Martha's car, but not on my car. I had left the unused portion outside, so I have my theories as to how it got there, but will never be able to prove them.

I should be able to get it all off, it will just take some elbow grease.