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Cleaning
I've been on a cleaning jag for a while.
I finally got the closet in the boys room cleaned out.
(big job!) I had cleaned the rest of the room once by shoving everything into the closet and behind a huge wood panel I had handy.
Three days later the panel fell over and the closet was effectively sealed closed from the inside.
I managed to force my way inside.
I spent most of the day throwing out broken toys and other assorted garbage...I built a kinda toybox to put the rest in (plus the stuff that had been out in the room) and took the closet door off the hinges so it can't get sealed again.
Except for our bedroom the only cleaning left is mainly maintaining clean.
A few days before the kids closet I went and got some wood and built some new shelves for my books.
I had built two shelves previously and liked the results.
I had one shelf that I had built years ago that was a doublewide shelf so that I could put books on both sides of. At the time I built it I didn't realize the structural benefits of screws and I used nails to build it.
I later used some metal braces to "shore it up" but it was gradually sagging (especially in the middle as it had a LONG span and it was only particle board) I had shored up the middle of the span by adding dowels to the center of each level of the shelf.
Recently it had taken to rocking a bit away from the wall so I knew it was time for it to go.
The new shelves would take up the slack.
I built four more. These shelves are almost 8 ft tall, with a shelf about every foot, each shelf is only 2 ft in span so I shouldn't have to worry about sagging.
I was worried that since these are so tall that one could topple if pulled on by a small child (of which I have two running around so the chances are high that the pulling would happen) so I bought some L brackets and a cheap stud finder. After I had the shelves in place I connected the top of each shelf to the nearest stud with the L bracket.
I then moved all the books to the new shelves and then took all the metal support brackets off the old one (hey, I'm frugal...I could use those braces other places (and did with the new shelves, to work out a bracing system for the one new shelf that I couldn't get up against the wall or railing))
When I was done I started pulling the old shelf out to the back porch (about 3 feet away from where it was sitting) and by the time I got it out the door it had collapsed by basically folding up. I left it there for later, and finished cleaning the room up.
When I went back later to take it to the dumpster I lifted one end up and shelves started pulling themselves off of nails. It fell apart so quick it was scary. Am I glad I finally got that thing out of here.
Opened up the room now as well... the big shelf had been placed such that it basically extended the hallway leading to the kitchen/dining room area and divided the two.
The new shelves are all around the walls of the dining room area, and they are not that wide....just about the width of the front cover of a hardback (maybe a tad wider) so they don't have as much wasted space as the old shelf did.
If you have read this far in my ramblings congratulations! You must have been so bored beginning this that you thought "I can't be any more bored." See there is always room for more boredom. 8->
I finally got the closet in the boys room cleaned out.
(big job!) I had cleaned the rest of the room once by shoving everything into the closet and behind a huge wood panel I had handy.
Three days later the panel fell over and the closet was effectively sealed closed from the inside.
I managed to force my way inside.
I spent most of the day throwing out broken toys and other assorted garbage...I built a kinda toybox to put the rest in (plus the stuff that had been out in the room) and took the closet door off the hinges so it can't get sealed again.
Except for our bedroom the only cleaning left is mainly maintaining clean.
A few days before the kids closet I went and got some wood and built some new shelves for my books.
I had built two shelves previously and liked the results.
I had one shelf that I had built years ago that was a doublewide shelf so that I could put books on both sides of. At the time I built it I didn't realize the structural benefits of screws and I used nails to build it.
I later used some metal braces to "shore it up" but it was gradually sagging (especially in the middle as it had a LONG span and it was only particle board) I had shored up the middle of the span by adding dowels to the center of each level of the shelf.
Recently it had taken to rocking a bit away from the wall so I knew it was time for it to go.
The new shelves would take up the slack.
I built four more. These shelves are almost 8 ft tall, with a shelf about every foot, each shelf is only 2 ft in span so I shouldn't have to worry about sagging.
I was worried that since these are so tall that one could topple if pulled on by a small child (of which I have two running around so the chances are high that the pulling would happen) so I bought some L brackets and a cheap stud finder. After I had the shelves in place I connected the top of each shelf to the nearest stud with the L bracket.
I then moved all the books to the new shelves and then took all the metal support brackets off the old one (hey, I'm frugal...I could use those braces other places (and did with the new shelves, to work out a bracing system for the one new shelf that I couldn't get up against the wall or railing))
When I was done I started pulling the old shelf out to the back porch (about 3 feet away from where it was sitting) and by the time I got it out the door it had collapsed by basically folding up. I left it there for later, and finished cleaning the room up.
When I went back later to take it to the dumpster I lifted one end up and shelves started pulling themselves off of nails. It fell apart so quick it was scary. Am I glad I finally got that thing out of here.
Opened up the room now as well... the big shelf had been placed such that it basically extended the hallway leading to the kitchen/dining room area and divided the two.
The new shelves are all around the walls of the dining room area, and they are not that wide....just about the width of the front cover of a hardback (maybe a tad wider) so they don't have as much wasted space as the old shelf did.
If you have read this far in my ramblings congratulations! You must have been so bored beginning this that you thought "I can't be any more bored." See there is always room for more boredom. 8->
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(only two powertools though... mitre saw and a drill with a screwdriver bit)
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I can't cut a straight line without my mitre saw...even with a mitre box!
(I don't understand how that can happen but it's true)
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And they make those terrific vroom, vroom noises!
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But a standard mitre box? Nothing works. Ever. There is nothing but tears of pain.
And Yay! shelving. ^_^
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I got it so I could make boxes for my tarot cards. If I get good enough at making the boxes I'm thinking of setting up a small business making them for tarot card collectors. Thats a ways down the road though...has to wait until I manage to do consistent quality on my own boxes.
The one I made the other day has wavy edges and a gap in the interior section. I know what I did wrong though so I'll work up the energy to make another one soon.
I started using a hardwood instead of basswood and that works a LOT better... I found a place online that sells hardwood sheets thin enough for my needs (1/8th inch thick...nobody local sells hardwood that thin.)
Ok...I'm babbling now....if I was
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Plus you overlook the motivating force of...procrastination! I should revise an article or read a disseration or do my taxes. Instead I read email and lj and newsgroups....
Cathy, also a fan of power tools
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Bookshelves
(Anonymous) 2004-03-11 09:28 am (UTC)(link)Bookshelf disaster story! Never place one of those particle board shelves near a heater vent. The elmer's glue-and-sawdust boards will dry out and collapse. Probably around three Ay-Em like mine did.
I actually done my taxes early,tho' I'll mail them around April 14th.No point in mailing early if you have to pay.
I have a mitre box and it sux-the grooves are too wide and it lets the blade slop around too much.My favorite power tool is my drill press-the only way to drill perfectly straight holes in things.
Current success story-giving some water resistance to a non-water resistant watch. It involves a set of jewelers' screwdrivers,Permatex Blue,and some patience. You can't submerge it, but it can stand rain now...Scott