Tag: diy

The Five Tools under Twenty Dollars You’ll Need to do Your Own Demolition

4 min readHere’s what you’ll want to have on hand in order to take own your own basement demolition. You can get most of these for under twenty bucks, and with them, you’ll be set to tear about nearly any basement.

Even if you plan to hire contractors to do your remodeling work, you can save money and feel a sense of ownership for the project by chipping in labor during demolition.  With a few of the right tools (and some common sense) removing an out of date “finished” basement before replacing it with a new one is a task most homeowners can tackle with success. Continue reading “The Five Tools under Twenty Dollars You’ll Need to do Your Own Demolition”

Demo with a Dog

3 min readJust to throw a wrench in the works once again, I gave myself an additional major delay in construction (or de-construction) at the beginning of the year: bringing home a new dog, Roxie. Here’s a little intro to my pup and the techniques I’ve used to acclimate her to her new life as a construction dog.

I decided to make the most of my non-office-worker stint by bringing a pup into my life.  After some research,  I found Roxie at the Humane Society, sugar sweet but bouncing off the walls of the meeting room.  She’s around a year and a half old and was picked up as a stray in Mississippi in December.  I  brought her home the last day of January.   Continue reading “Demo with a Dog”

Progress: Basement Demolition and Discoveries

4 min readAfter a long winter of being distracted by design work and other projects, I got back to the fun of tearing apart the house again a few weeks ago.

[Actually I began some exploratory demolition by pulling down a few ceiling tiles at the end of January, only to be delayed by a the sudden memory that the building inspector hadn’t NOT said that the ugly acoustic tile ceiling could contain asbestos.  I decided to play it safe and took a sample over to the Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene for testing to confirm that it was safe.  Thirty eight bucks and three weeks later I got the all clear and was ready to head back down the basement stairs.] Continue reading “Progress: Basement Demolition and Discoveries”

Micro Update: DIY Frosted Glass House Numbers

2 min readSometimes when you can’t decide on either the high, or the low, version of available products, the only option is to DIY.

When I painted last fall, I stripped off the mailbox, lights and house numbers.  I’ve got the new box and lights in place but was having a hard time deciding on the right kind of numbers.  The commercial options were either blah, or a little pricy for my budget.

Here’s how I split the difference and created my own solution.  It highlights the original mid-century front door, enhances privacy, simplifies the entry and glow cheerily at night. Continue reading “Micro Update: DIY Frosted Glass House Numbers”