Ok, got a handful of things done today. None of these jobs were big enough to deserve their own full posts, so I’m just lumping them together and calling it a day…which in fact it was.
Today my wife worked and I was home with the kids, but in between meals and cleanup and other stuff parents do for their kids, I squeezed in a few odd jobs. After ballet class, we swung by the hardware store and got some insulating foam, 1”x6” boards and a toilet seal.
Before getting started, I gathered fallen branches from around the yard. Nice to have that done before spring comes, but also I figured a good fire would be nice to have when I’m done pulling the old boards off. You can’t tell in this picture, but it’s been lit at this point and just hasn’t spread upward yet.
So the 1x6’s will go here. Got some old boards here that have rotted out completely, and a few others that will be broken through soon. I can’t afford to replace them all at once, so I’m just kind of doing this whole thing piecewise, as the need comes up.
There we go, no you can see the flames coming in…
Doop-a-doop-a-doo, don’t mind me, just popping out old nails and throwing them under the walkway…
Here you can see the walkway with the first two boards removed.
I just cut all the boards to 57”. I measured it as 65”, but figured I’d rather lose a little than lose a whole board if something comes up short.
Next I used one of my boards as a straight-edge and marked both sides of the new planks so I could cut them to fit.
This was my first time trying a spray-stain. Honestly, I’m not a picky dude so it’s not too shocking, but I really liked it. I never intended for the stain to match the original painted wood, I’m hoping to replace it all over time and use stain instead of paint.
Here’s one more shot. At this point the boards are literally all but screwed down. I’m going to let the stain cure for 48 hours before I flip them and do the bottoms. Once that’s done I’ll buckle them down.
Next in my list was this wiggly toilet. The wax seal in this thing has got to be shot - time to take it out and replace it.
I found this wax less seal at the hardware store - seems like a good idea to me, so I’m gonna give it a try.
Obligatory toilet pic.
Before removing a toilet, you’ll need to turn off the water.
Next I flush the toilet to empty the tank, and afterwards I used a plunger to try forcing whatever water I could put of the bowl. At a certain point though, I just say enough is enough and move on. The little water left in the bowl will stay in there if you move the toilet carefully.
Remove the caps (2x) that cover the installation hardware.
Remove the nuts.
Hold up the caps and hardware. Take a picture to show all your friends on Hive.
The screw is now loose, all other securing hardware is removed.
See that water connection there? Yeah that’s gotta go.
Boom! There it is, a disgusting wax seal that’s been under this toilet since before I lived here. You know what this makes me wanna do? Yep! I wanna dig it out!
At first I always move slow. I don’t want to damage the flange. But once I can see part of it, it’s go-time.
This is unconventional, but I like to seal up openings that lead to areas where small animals could burrow in. I’m using great stuff foam to seal around the outside of the flange. Just a little honestly, I don’t want to pack it in around the pipe below the floor - that would be terrible if this ever needed to be replaced.
…it’s not pretty, but it ought to do.
Now, this spray foam is one use only. Once the foam in the straw dries up, it’s not much good to you anymore. There’s an area behind the stove I’ve also been wanting to seal, so I just took a quick break to run over and do that.
While that dries, I came back to put in the new seal.
In classic Albus style, I fully cranked the toilet down before realizing I’d left out a piece that I would need for aesthetics…
Now that I pulled that all back apart and put these in, I am able to snap the caps on over the hardware once again…like I was never here.
Last on my list of work that doesn’t involve cleaning or caretaking, I am replacing the shower head in the basement shower with a hand held.
I got this on Amazon for something like $20. I hate going to Amazon, but occasionally I still do.
Installation part one:
Installation part two:
…it was a busy day. This covers probably about half or less of all that went down today, but the other stuff was not as interesting so I’ll leave it out.
Anyway, thanks for checking out some more of my work! As always, I hope you enjoyed witnessing as much as I enjoyed creating!
© Photos and words by @albuslucimus
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