Shelves for a friend

My friend Tina asked me to build her shelves for a small desk area in her kitchen. She wanted them to match some existing shelves on the other side of the kitchen. I was able to match some of the edge detail with a router bit.
Hanging the shelves was a bit of an ordeal. Her husband Jerry and I spent around two hours hanging them. We were using the product Zip which just screws into the wall. Each one can hold 50 pounds of weight. The first two shelves went in easily. The ones to the right were a bear. Not sure what the dry wall on that side was- maybe first generation dry wall. It wasn't thick enough and it was hard like a rock. The Zip product just spun then ate up the wall too much.
She loves her new shelves and I think they look like they have always been there.

Garage Siding is Done!

Today my friend Jerry Scacchitti came over to help me finish up the garage. The back of the garage is just as challenging as the front, except it was missing the huge whole for the doorway! Jerry and I were able to do from the ground to about seven feet up in a little under 2 hours. We then spent 3 hours on the cuts for the angled sides.

A little memory bubble for the project today was watching my friend side while he took a conference call on his blackberry, listened to music playing and me talking. Every once in a while he would take the call off mute to add to the conference call then return right to siding! Amazing

Pretty much a side per day this week. Not bad for a few hours of sweating and working. Totally worth it to me to save the difference between hiring out for this work. The siding cost about $1200 and I figured I worked a total of 20 hours on the siding project.

Bought the siding material from B & L Wholesale, Rochester NY. Free delivery and the will take back any unused materials.

Pictures show Jerry in various stages of work. The last pic is the completed back. The ladder is still there to fit in the eaves- that will be another day.

2nd Side Completed

Today Jack and I worked together on the siding on this 2nd side. Jack did a very good job. The two sun sides are finished. Here are before (with my little guy Ryan) and the after.

Love siding! Goes from trash to clean looking in hours. Reminds me of grouting tile. You smear this mud over the tiles, making it look like a mess, then wipe it away to reveal something awesome.

Vinyl Siding on the garage

Front completed today on our garage. A few challenges I didn't expect. The thin sides were not the same height. That really messed up the first long piece of siding over the door. That one piece had to be perfectly straight or it would throw off the entire job.

I baked in the sun all day and had a throw down with a few bees. The hardest side is done- lots of angled cuts that were not fun.

Refinished A Bench

Today I helped out my mother in law with refinishing an outdoor bench. The bench was made of oak and had seen some time in the weather. The wood had turned black and rough.

My daughter and I sanded the wood with 80 grit, 120 grit and finally 220 grit sandpaper. That took us around 2 hours with an orbital sander. We then cleaned the black iron parts and spray painted it. The wood was treated with a polyurethane.

Last we assembled the bench.

Edging around the pool

Putting the finishing touches on the edging around our pool. This should help keep weeds down and look nice once the grass comes in from the places I torn up last week. Got to get water back there! Grass needs water- genius.