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By the time they come to fetch it that part is over. I'm trying to empty two homes right now so I'm happy anyone wants our old crap. Honestly it's not worth the TIME it's taking to sell but I'm retired and volunteering this work to support my mentally disabled sister-in-law. She needs the money.
Ooh, elephants! My mom would love those. And the blue glass stuff. Too bad I'm out in BFE.

Upside is that the place installing the new AC unit specializes in rural work. I mentioned hearing banjos and he said that most of their clients are rural and they travel pretty far. He was very nice about making arrangements to get the AC done. Told him we were miserable in this heat and didn't want to replace both units. Good thing bc with the price of the outside unit I don't want to know what the inside unit would have cost.

Ooh, time to head out for my curbside pickup order.
 
Looked at my repair again today. Not bad minus the non matching filler on the right side. Maybe I should rub some dirt on it.😝 Prolly coulda made some hoofer outta the sawdust and some glue but that’s not what the stars had in store for this countertop.
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Looked at my repair again today. Not bad minus the non matching filler on the right side. Maybe I should rub some dirt on it.😝 Prolly coulda made some hoofer outta the sawdust and some glue but that’s not what the stars had in store for this countertop.
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Coulda used tiny artist brushes and painted the darker wood grain color across the filler....
...or maybe scratched in the wood grain with a utility blade and wiped stain across it. Another 4 hours and it would be 25% less noticeable. 😁
No, it looks great. Not much could be done without it costing crazy 💲💲💲
 
I keep bouncing back and forth between measuring jobs and my spiral staircase from hell job. The customersbare extremely patient and I'm extremely greatful.
Three lowers left to do, but Monday we plan to get the curved section of railing reinstalled.
I've just been putting in half days on this job. I can't take off a stair and leave in off overnight, so I only get one stair taken off, refinished and reinstalled. If the home was unoccupied, I could remove 4 stairs at a time, then "undress" them all, then pad them all, then carpet them all....... production style. The job would be taking 1/4 the time. Oh well, the customer is happy, I'm happy.... We're all happy! 🎉
 

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Only after the railing baulisters are dropped back into the tubular steel holders can they be tightened fully.
If they are tightened first, the holders will tweak to the right, left, forawds or backwards slightly making it impossible to slide the baulisters down inside them.
When the railing was originally constructed in place, the metal holders were tightened using two sockets, one below on the bolt and one above on the nut.
Since that can't be done this time, I used some snips and made some U-shaped, nut-not-spinners, out of some reinforcement plate metal and epoxied them in place. They work great. It would be nasty after dropping all those baulisters in place to have a few nuts spinning inside the holders.
 

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I shoulda bought the whole grocery cart full.
Just made a snack to check em out. 12 grain bread, a little squirt of mayo on one half, peanut butter on the other and BACON!
 

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Coulda used tiny artist brushes and painted the darker wood grain color across the filler....
...or maybe scratched in the wood grain with a utility blade and wiped stain across it. Another 4 hours and it would be 25% less noticeable. 😁
No, it looks great. Not much could be done without it costing crazy 💲💲💲

It certainly could look better but I was being rushed so that’s what it looks like. Don’t like it, don’t rush me.
 
Wahoo, 53 degrees today at 2:16pm.
First totally rain free day in 3 weeks and only a few days when it got above 40. The whole month has been 5 to 10 below normal.
...it's them Canadians doin' it.
 
CJ, it still looks great!
Highup, looks like the stairs are coming along well.

I've had precooked bacon and sometimes it is better than the bacon cooked fresh. I used to cut it up with scissors and add it to scrambled eggs when making them for my father. I would scramble them with cheese and chunks of bacon. Sometimes throw in some sauteed mushrooms.

I don't know what temperature it was today bc I pretty much stayed in bed. I was too groggy to move. I had to get up to clear stuff out of the way-- cats knocked over a bin and mom couldn't get through. It had spilled out. I tried to pick it up but ended up almost falling down so I shoved it aside. Managed to cut my finger on something I picked up-- no idea what or how. I got her something to eat and then racked out again. Vision has been blurry today too so I just wanted to sleep it off. I kept sweating so I know it was warm. It's cooling off now. I can't wait for Monday so we get new AC.

I got up again and got food for Mom and then cleaned the toilet. I have the Toto with the Sanagloss finish so it is easier to clean. Only needs to be cleaned once per week or every 2 weeks. I know Mom's toilet must need to be cleaned again but I am not feeling up to it.
 
I keep bouncing back and forth between measuring jobs and my spiral staircase from hell job. The customersbare extremely patient and I'm extremely greatful.
Three lowers left to do, but Monday we plan to get the curved section of railing reinstalled.
I've just been putting in half days on this job. I can't take off a stair and leave in off overnight, so I only get one stair taken off, refinished and reinstalled. If the home was unoccupied, I could remove 4 stairs at a time, then "undress" them all, then pad them all, then carpet them all....... production style. The job would be taking 1/4 the time. Oh well, the customer is happy, I'm happy.... We're all happy! 🎉
All I can say is Yikes!

So in summation every spindle, two per step, has a heavy metal bracket that is through bolted to the step?

I don’t know anything about building hand rails but that sounds like some serious over kill? I understand the posts have to be sturdy but every spindle? That connection sounds stronger than the spindle itself? I think I’d of shot those puppies in with a brad nailer and been home for lunch…lol

I know you said the guy that built it isn’t around any more. Maybe you could find a family member and yell at them…lol

I give you a ton of credit, you certainly have a lot of patience… I get anxious just reading the posts! lol Keep up the good work…
 
All I can say is Yikes!

So in summation every spindle, two per step, has a heavy metal bracket that is through bolted to the step?

I don’t know anything about building hand rails but that sounds like some serious over kill? I understand the posts have to be sturdy but every spindle? That connection sounds stronger than the spindle itself? I think I’d of shot those puppies in with a brad nailer and been home for lunch…lol

I know you said the guy that built it isn’t around any more. Maybe you could find a family member and yell at them…lol

I give you a ton of credit, you certainly have a lot of patience… I get anxious just reading the posts! lol Keep up the good work…
The pie stairs have two of these, but each stair has three holes. The center one has a 3" bolt. The 12-in threaded rod acts as a long bolt for the back of one step and goes up through the top of the next step There's a tapered steel support at the leading edge of each of these pie steps and you'll notice a piece of steel tubing welded to the end of this support. The green arrows are the welds. This configuration has really helped with stair alignment because the holes in the steps and the steel baulister holders make it difficult to get these stairs out of alignment. Discovering this, was a relief.
Patience is a virtue, especially after you've committed yourself. Once started, there's no way I could quit.
I mean who would put it back together if I took it apart?
 

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I don't know if there's a " correct " way to carpet stairs like this. They're probably is but I did it the same way I did 35 plus years ago.
Starting on the bottom side of the step, I cut the carpet flush with the edge. When flipped over and stretched to the back of the step the other edges are folded over. I figure that though it's a bit visible, it's kind of like a seam in a pair of jeans. As long as they're all even inconsistent...... It's good enough 😁
I discovered quickly on the pie stairs, that folding under the curved edge required some relief cuts to keep it from bunching up.
Where the corners meet, I just left a small triangle to fold under. A long tip on the glue gun works wonders. Less hand tacking is a good thing. The corners may be a little unorthodox, but turned out decent, so I'm happy with them. The underside of the stair is the only place I could use the electric tacker. Everything else was 7/8" wire nails.
 

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Took the family on the train into Grand Central Station today to check out the newly operational Long Island Rail Road terminal.

They Had to dig a tunnel under the East River and end 11 stories UNDER the existing terminal. Original plan was to open in 2009 at a cost of 3.5 billion. Opened last week (Just a tad behind schedule). The original bid was for 3.5 billion... Final bill came in around 11.1 billion (couple of extras I guess). Plenty of corruption involved along the way I'm sure to slow things down.

It's hard to imagine the engineering involved in a project like this. Digging through solid bedrock, trains on different levels, ventilation... Longest darn escalator I've ever seen.
escalator.jpg


Gotta give a tip of the hat to all the construction workers involved. Pictures don't do it justice. Immaculate and beautiful.... All 800,000 sq. ft

Along with all the marvel and art work are some nice terrazzo floors with lighted glass inserts. A lot of fancy tile work too.




 

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