Renovating my house in the suburbs

   / Renovating my house in the suburbs #113  
It took me four hours of solid work to treat three 20' beams today. It's exhausting work and a good portion was done while kneeling on the ground... even with knee pads, not fun. Oh and the amount of dust this produces is staggering. My sinuses are getting irritated even with the use of a carbon mask. I figure in inhaling the dust while taking breaks. But I'm more than half way done now. View attachment 671146View attachment 671147

You're using the wrong setup. Carbon cartridges are for organic vapor and solvents. You need a particulate filter for your mask. Or a particulate disposable mask.
 
   / Renovating my house in the suburbs
  • Thread Starter
#114  
You're using the wrong setup. Carbon cartridges are for organic vapor and solvents. You need a particulate filter for your mask. Or a particulate disposable mask.
I'll double check. Thanks for the reminder.
 
   / Renovating my house in the suburbs #115  
Lookin gooder-un blue TU.gif.

Subscribed
 
   / Renovating my house in the suburbs
  • Thread Starter
#116  
I thought the day would never come... the countertop guys came back and fixed their mess ups and I'm happy with the results. Now I have the green light to replace my kitchen window and then start on the backsplash. I'm bringing in a helping hand for the backsplash because there are 1500 tiles to lay.
 
   / Renovating my house in the suburbs
  • Thread Starter
#117  
Finished the beams! I made 154 linear feet in total and will use 135 feet. Remember when I mentioned that the local places that make these charge $150 per linear foot? That would have been $20,250 for this pile.

The last update I had just finished the steps up to applying the minwax weathering agent. Let them sit in the sun for a couple days and the temps have been 95+... didn't realize how much kiln died lumber would cup. So I've got a bit of straightening to do when I install them, but nothing that will ruin the beams.

The final steps were staining and a coat of extreme flat polyurethane. I used a HVLP sprayer for both coats. I used almost a gallon of stain for all these beams but only a quart of polyurethane. I'm quite happy with the results... especially considering how much I saved (I didn't total everything up but I'm sure I'm under $1,500).

Started mounting the ceiling plates so hopefully tomorrow the project will be complete.

In other news, I'm expecting my kitchen window to arrive tomorrow, almost five weeks from order date from Millgard. Fingers crossed that there are no issues with that.

Last but not least, some bad news in regards to my electric panel. I have an old mid-80s FPE stab-lok panel and want to replace it. Scam Diego Gas & Electric came out and said I need to move the panel to at least 36" laterally from my gas meter (which is currently directly below my panel). The building code changed and they stopped grandfathering in panel replacements in early 2019. So they are requiring a new line from the street. That means cutting my driveway, trenching, and getting screwed by the electrical contractors who won't touch a new line for less than $9k including permits and trenching. Replacement panel would be about $2,500. I'm thinking I'll plead with them for an exception because everybody in my neighborhood has replaced their panels under the grandfathered terms. My argument is that I'm not going to trench so their point of a fire hazard existing due to insufficient clearance is not as bad as the fire hazard of keeping a FPE stab-lok panel that's also less than 36" laterally from the gas meter.

If they don't budge on the code exemption I'll just wait until I'm going forward with my backyard renovation or possibly adding a granny flat/ADU which I'd have to trench for anyway. 20201001_180248.jpeg20201001_180340.jpeg20201001_164729.jpeg
 
   / Renovating my house in the suburbs #118  
Those beams look awesome! Well done!!!
 
   / Renovating my house in the suburbs #119  
All Federal Pacific here and no issues.... tens of thousands... many dating back to 1950's.

Not aware of any mandatory replacement requirements... at least not here.
 
   / Renovating my house in the suburbs
  • Thread Starter
#120  
All Federal Pacific here and no issues.... tens of thousands... many dating back to 1950's.

Not aware of any mandatory replacement requirements... at least not here.
Not mandatory but basically nobody here will work on them and everybody says they're a fire risk due to some issue with overloaded circuits not tripping and some falsified UL testing back in the day. Mine trips just fine. Maybe it's just a local racket to keep the electric contractors happy?
 

Tractor & Equipment Auctions

UNUSED X-STAR ACS LOADER BOOM LIFT (A52706)
UNUSED X-STAR ACS...
UNUSED DIGGIT 6' HIGH FENCING - 1 ROLL (A54757)
UNUSED DIGGIT 6'...
UNUSED WOLVERINE TL-12-72W 72" HYD TILLER (A54757)
UNUSED WOLVERINE...
2014 DODGE CHARGER (A51406)
2014 DODGE CHARGER...
2013 INTERNATIONAL REEFER TRUCK (A54607)
2013 INTERNATIONAL...
2019 PETERBILT 579 TANDEM AXLE SLEEPER (A54313)
2019 PETERBILT 579...
 
Top