Somehow I’ve had some time to do some home improvements over the past couple of months, mostly the past few weeks.
Pressure Washed and Painted the Fence
With the neighbors help, I got the fence painted! Nothing special, we used the same Cabot Cedar stain as before. The first coat lasted 4 years, though it could have used a coat a year ago. Pressure washing showed a lot of black staining over the years, and I repaired one broken picket, otherwise the fence looked great.
Lamp Post Replaced with Solar LED Post Light
I’ve been thinking about repairing the leaning post and replace the natural gas lamp light with a solar powered one. Last weekend the weather was finally warm enough for me to investigate. After digging around the post about 3-4″ deep, the post fell over. Quick examination I found the post completely rusted through. Fixing the lamp post turned into a replacing the lamp post project. I proceeded to dig out the hole beyond the frost line, about 34 inches deep.
I thought I could find a simple replacement lamp post at Lowes/Home Depot, but guess again, they sell more complicated posts that are way over priced. Since I don’t need a fancy post with an extra electrical socket built-in, I found a simple and affordable post at Menards, though it required a trip across town. When I got back, I just had enough time to pickup 2 bags of concrete, mix and then set the post before nightfall.
While I was disconnecting the gas line to the lamp post I went ahead and removed the line to the gas meter and capped it with a 1/4″ NPT cap.
The following Wednesday the solar powered lamp I ordered arrived. It only took 5 minutes to install. Compare that to the entire day it took to replace the post! We had to wait another day to see if it would charge and light up. Thursday night it came on when the sun fell. As expected, it put out a comparable amount of light to that of a gas lamp. Three hours later the battery died. Luckily you can add a 2nd battery pack to extend the battery life. I knew the light from an LED solar powered lamp would not be as bright as a electric light bulb, but it is as effective as the gas lamp it replaced. If it could just last a little longer into the night then we’ll be all set. Most important though the yard looks good again!
Front Door Sealed
In October I decided it was time to do something about the draft under the front door. I first replaced the bottom gasket with a one size fits all 4 blade model at Home Depot. I quickly discovered the bottom seal of the door was not designed for the gasket I had purchased. After a few days of the family struggling to open/close the door, I decided to modify the gasket by removing the first 2 blades with a utility knife. It did the trick, but it also allowed a slight draft at the corners of the door. The draft was due to the door sill plate having a slight pitch running outside (rather than flat or to the inside). This pitch is also why the newer gasket was so hard to open/close the door.
This past weekend I decided to fix the entire problem by replacing the bottom sill plate. It was not as easy a task as I thought it would be since the original door sill plate was attached to the door frame, rather than the sill plate attached to the bottom house framing. Once it was removed, it was just a slow process fitting the replacement sill plate in place. I put a small bead of silicone between the sill plate and the house framing to insulate between the two joints. I also had to add about 1/4″ of spacers to the assembly of the sill plate so the top of the sill was tight against a new 4 blade door gasket. It did the job, the door is now easy to open and close and it’s air tight!
Future Home Projects
There are a lot of things we’d like to do with the house, such as finish part of the basement, redo the master bathroom, upgrade the bathroom fixtures throughout the house, and install a wood laminate flooring on the first floor. Perhaps 2013 I’ll have something more exciting to blog about as far as home improvements are concerned.
