Ash

Making a DIY Rain Barrel from a Trash Can

May 25, 2016 by Ash 92 Comments

With summer approaching, Eileen was working hard on her flower garden. As I saw her walking all the way up to the house and out to the yard to fill up her watering can several times in a row, inspiration struck.

Why not set up a type of water reservoir by her garden?

Not only would this eliminate her water laps to the house, but it would avoid the hassle of rolling and unrolling a hose.

Furthermore, I could use a rain barrel system which would fall right in line with our new organic way of life. We’ve made a lifestyle change this year, opting for organic, non-processed foods, and re-using rainwater was a perfect addendum.

Planning the DIY Rain Barrel

I did some research on how making DIY rain barrel reservoirs and settled on a design pattern I liked.

A rain barrel reservoir is a very simple way to collect and store rainwater for future use. You first need a large container to store the water.

A typical container used is the blue 55-gallon water drums with bung hole caps on the top. In my research, I actually found out that a lot of cities offer water conservation programs and give out these drums for free.

Also, you can probably even check with businesses or food processing factories to see if they are throwing any away.

I opted for a different route though, as I did not need a large 55-gallon container. I shopped around at Home Depot and found a 20-gallon plastic garbage can for $13 that was perfect.

The lid appealed to me because when I flipped it over, it was deep and round. This meant it would serve as a nice water collection basin for the falling rain (as opposed to a flat surface that I would get with a water drum), allowing the water to pool in the center.

Here’s a picture of the garbage can I purchased at Home Depot with the deep upside down lid:

Constructing the DIY Rain Barrel

The first step of construction was drilling five large drainage holes in the center of the lid. I used a hole saw bit for my drill to make these cuts.

Then I placed some mosquito screen on the part of the lid that would be facing the water, and secured it in place with some waterproof duct tape.

It was important to cover the drainage holes with insect screen to keep bugs out of the water. If the screen wasn’t fine enough, mosquitoes especially would get in and lay larvae in the water.

I also had to drill an overflow hole in the top part of the garbage can. This was to allow water to drain out when the container was full to capacity. This hole also had to be protected with insect screen.

Here’s a picture of the 5 drainage holes in the lid, as well as the overflow hole in the garbage can: Making a DIY Rain Barrel from a Trash Can

Below is a picture of what the lid looked like once the insect screen was applied with waterproof duct tape (the screen is a little hard to see, but its covering the holes).

This part of the lid would be facing downwards so would not be visible.

How to Use a Trash Can to Make a DIY Rain Barrel

I needed a valve inserted at the bottom of the can to let water out when needed. I did some shopping online and found a really nice valve spigot with a bulkhead fitting that was perfect for my rain barrel design.

The bulkhead fitting was the piece that let me attach it to the wall of the garbage can without leaking.

To install it, I first drilled a hole at the bottom of the can. Then I inserted the inside part of the bulkhead fitting. This piece came with a rubber ring that would form a tight seal when pressed against the can wall.

Next, I attached the outside part of the fitting. It just screwed onto the inside piece from the outside, and then I used a wrench to make a tight connection.

Finally, I screwed on the actual spigot into the outside bulkhead fitting. I used some Teflon tape on the spigot grooves to ensure a watertight seal.

With the spigot tightly installed, I partially filled the can with water (just high enough to cover the spigot) and checked for leaks. No water came out, so it was good to go.

Here’s a picture of the spigot (left) and bulkhead fitting (right), straight out of the box:

Using a Spigot for a DIY Trash Can Rain Barrel Here’s a picture of the installed spigot from the outside (notice the white Teflon tape around the spigot groove to make a waterproof seal with the bulkhead fitting):

How to Make a DIY Rain Barrel from a Trash Can

Below is what the bulkhead fitting looked like from the inside:

Making a DIY Rain Barrel to Water the Garden Next, I had to secure the upside down lid to the garbage can so that a gust of wind wouldn’t send it soaring through the air. I came up with a simple technique of drilling 16 small holes around the perimeter of the lid penetrating the can below.

Then I inserted 6 inch U shaped strands of electrical wire into the holes, twist tying the bottoms. The wires held the lid tightly to the garbage can.

Here’s a picture showing the wire strands holding down the lid on the DIY rain barrel:

Making a DIY Rain Barrel to Save Water and Time

Building a Sturdy Stand

The DIY rain barrel was now finished. However, the project would not be complete without a proper stand for the barrel. The barrel needed to be elevated about a foot off the ground to allow buckets and watering cans to be placed under the spigot.

I came up with a simple but very sturdy design for a stand using wood left over from my shed project.

It was important to use pressure-treated wood for the stand as it would be in direct contact with the ground and be exposed to bugs. I constructed the stand as outlined in the pictures below.

I cut 2’ lengths of 2 x 4s, 2 x 6s (pictured below) and 1’ length of 4 x 4s (not pictured):

How to Build a Stand for a DIY Rain Barrel Then, I attached 4 of the 2 x 6s to 4 vertical 4 x 4s:

How to Build a Stand for a DIY Rain Barrel Next, I attached 2 of the 2 x 4s to the top of the 4 x 4s. These were to serve as the supports for the stands platform:

How to Build a Garden Stand for a DIY Rain Barrel (Made from a Trash Can) Finally, I attached 4 of the 2 x 6s to the top, completing the rain barrel stand:

Constructing a Rain Barrel Stand to Water the Garden With the stand and rain barrel now complete, I found a good location near to Eileen’s garden and set it up.

I also made sure there were no tree branches above to block the rainfall. At this point, I realized I forgot to properly secure the rain barrel to the stand.

A strong gust of wind would knock over an empty barrel. So I screwed in 2 metal hooks into the stand and tied the garbage can handles to them with some carabiner style bungee cords.

Here is a picture of the final setup of our DIY rain barrel:

How to Water Your Garden with a DIY Rain Barrel Trash Can

Here’s a close up of the hook for the bungee cord, securing the rain barrel to the stand:

How to Secure Your DIY Rain Barrel to the Garden Stand

Testing our New DIY Rain Barrel

I was excited for Eileen to start using the rain barrel. Now I just had to wait for rain.

Luckily it rained the next day, and I ran out after the skies cleared up to check out the rain barrel.

My simple design worked pretty well. I opened the spigot and water came pouring out. Though, it wasn’t that much water for the amount of rain that fell.

The garbage can lid only has so much surface area to collect water and yielded a small amount of water. So, it would take several large rain falls to collect a usable amount of water. However, it still saved Eileen trips up to the house and back.

So although the basic design for the rain barrel was complete, I was already envisioning upgrades to improve the water collection efficiency.

Updates to come in future blog posts!

As for time and cost, the materials for the DIY rainwater barrel cost $35, and it took about an hour to make.

How to Install Shed Siding and Roofing (Phase 2)

May 22, 2016 by Ash 11 Comments

Everyone has been asking for the nail-biting conclusion on how to build a shed, so here it is! If you missed the first part, check out Shed Project Part 1.

My plan of building a shed from scratch has come a long way from some sketches on Post-It notes. I started on the shed’s foundation with concrete blocks. Then, I worked my way up through the shed floor and got the wall frame standing firm. If you haven’t read Part 1, be sure to check it out!

After a short break to work on some side projects around the house, it was time to continue building the shed so I could move the riding lawn mower out of the garage.

How to Build a Shed – Installing T1-11 Shed Siding

With the shed wall frame in place, it was time to install the exterior siding part of building the shed.

I used T1-11 plywood siding for my DIY shed.

T1-11 siding is very popular wood paneling siding for sheds. T1-11 plywood is thick enough to be used as the actual wall itself (versus using a thinner plywood sheathing and separate siding).

Also, T1-11 siding (similar to the T&G plywood used for the floor) also has special grooved endings to help the sheets overlap and make a tighter seal at the seams.

Installing the shed siding for your framed structure does more than just enclose it.

At this stage, the framed walls were still wobbly and were not square with each other. The shed siding corrects all of this for you.

When you install the first piece of shed siding onto each wall panel, you use that first piece to align the edge of the wall panel.

Once the wall panel is aligned with the shed siding, you nail them together and that wall panel is squared and locked in place.

Getting Ahead of Myself

Remember earlier when I said I used L brackets to tightly secure the 4 wall panels together, and it backfired?

Well, prior to installing the shed siding, my shed wall panels were not wobbly. They were held very firmly in place because of the L brackets at the corners.

It took me a few minutes to figure out why the walls were not budging when I tried to line up the edges with the shed siding. So I had to undo a lot of the L brackets from the corners to get the shed siding to install correctly.

Once the shed siding was up, I reinstalled the L brackets.

As for the window openings, I initially installed shed siding that covered them up completely.

Once the shed siding was securely in place, I used a mini circular saw to cut out the opening (I highly recommend a compact circular saw for your tool collection – it’s much more convenient than a full sized circular saw and also very precise).

I made another mistake related to the shed siding too. The wall studs in the panels are spaced 16” apart (pretty common construction standard).

The 16” spacing starts at one end of the wall panel. Yet, depending on the length of the wall panel, it could end abruptly, forcing you to place the ending stud at an arbitrary distance.

When installing the shed siding, you always have to start on the end of the panel where the 16” spacing begins (not where it ended prematurely).

Starting on the correct end of the wall panel ensures that every 4 ft wide shed siding sheet ends on a wall stud.

I luckily did this for the 3 sides of the shed. However, the right side of the shed, I did not start siding on the correct end.

Because of this error, I had several pieces of overlapping siding that did not have a wall stud behind it.

Lack of a wall stud at the seams meant there was no way to tighten the overlap between the shed siding sheets and left a gap for rain and bugs to come in.

So rather than re-siding that wall panel, I left it as is, and installed some additional wall studs to nail the seams into.

Rain, Rain Go Away

I worked on building the shed all by myself. Since it was a solo project, it took me longer to finish because it was just me building it. During this time, I had an issue with heavy rain water causing parts of the shed siding to swell and bulge and pull away from parts of the foundation.

After it had rained, I noticed that there were 2 slight dips in the flooring around the edges of the shed foundation that caused rain water to puddle and remain there.

In that same area, some of the shed siding was bulging on the outside. I did some research and found out that unprotected T1-11 plywood siding will start to warp if left exposed to standing water.

So this puddling water was warping my T1-11 siding.

My solution was to drill a few tiny holes into the center of the floor dips to let the water drain. After the next rainfall, I checked the shed and there was no more water puddles.

My T1-11 plywood siding has never warped since.

As for the existing bulges in the shed siding, I could not leave them like that because it would let bugs in. So I used a bar clamp to force the shed siding back into place, and secured it with a few nails.

Shed Roof Construction

With the plywood shed walls finally up, I could start working on the roof.

This was a big milestone for my DIY shed project as it meant the “drying out” period could start (when water stopped entering the interior, and it could soon become usable space).

How to Build Roof Trusses for a Shed

The shed roof required a number of trusses to be built.

The trusses are the shed roof framing, which are the triangular supports mounted on top of the structure that the roof sheathing or plywood is nailed into.

I had to build thirteen individual shed trusses to span the length of the shed.

Here is what the shed trusses look like up close:

In building trusses for a shed, I followed the directions in the shed plans to construct them.

My miter saw really came in handy for building the shed roof, as there were lots of angles to cut.

Where each segment of the truss met another segment, I sandwiched that part between two pieces of plywood and nailed it together securely.

I read a great tip online about constructing the shed trusses. Similar to the framed wall panels, I built them on the floor of the shed. However, this time I use the shed floor to make a jig for each truss.

I needed each of the trusses to be identical to the next. So I built the first truss carefully on the shed floor.

Once completed, I screwed scrap blocks of wood in the floor at strategic parts around the truss.

I lifted the finished truss up and a perfect jig remained on the floor to construct the next one. I didn’t have to spend time measuring and aligning the truss segments.

Next, I just placed each segment into the jig and secured them with the sandwiching plywood.

The blocks of wood screwed into the floor meant that the truss would be a perfect replica of the original one.

How to Attach the Shed Trusses

Attaching the trusses to the shed structure was not as simple as dropping them onto the top and nailing them.

Because of how they rest on the framed walls, there was not much surface area to work with to nail them down securely.

I did some research online, and a common technique was to just toe-nail the truss to the shed (drive some nails into the truss at an angle to penetrate both the truss and the shed structure).

I tried this, but I was not comfortable with the connection it made. There was too much movement, and it did not feel safe to leave it like that.

My solution was to use L brackets on the sides of the trusses and heavy duty 6-inch TimberLok screws driven in from underneath at an angle.

The screws were what really did the job. The L brackets really just held the truss in place so it was easy to drive in the screws. I love the TimberLok screws.

With all the extra TimberLok screws leftover from the shed, I use them in so many projects now (such as my folding workbench and sliding garage shelves) that require a really strong fastener.

Here is a view of the trusses from outside:

How to Install Roof Sheathing on a Shed

Next came the shed roof sheathing. I used ½” 4×8 OSB (oriented strand board) plywood for the shed roof.

The trickiest part of this shed building step was actually getting the plywood sheets onto the trusses. I would recommend getting some help for this part of the shed construction. The shed roof sheathing was very heavy and large to do by yourself.

I was very eager though to get the roof on, and unfortunately no one was around at the time to help. I went through several failed attempts to get the sheets up by myself.

Eventually the technique that worked for me was to lift each plywood sheet up and in between the trusses. This required quite a bit of strength.

Needless to say, I was very sore afterwards, but it was worth it.

Prior to lifting up the plywood sheets, I had screwed scrap siding into the overhanging part of the trusses, giving the lower trusses an edge.

This ensured that when I dropped the sheets onto the trusses, they would not slide off the bottom and fall to the ground.

One by one, I lifted and nailed each sheet down to the trusses in a staggered pattern provided in the plans.

Here’s a picture looking up into the trusses after the plywood sheathing was laid down:

Installing the Drip Edge on a Plywood Shed

With the plywood sheathing nailed down, I installed a drip edge on the overhang of the shed.

A drip edge is specially shaped metal flashing that helps keep water on roof away from your structure, and not run down the side.

Here’s a close up of the metal drip edge on the plywood shed:

Laying the Roof Paper

After the plywood sheathing came roofing felt paper. The roofing paper came in a large roll that I cut into 16 ft segments.

I started at the bottom corner of one side of the roof, and worked my way up. I nailed the roofing paper into the trusses using roofing nails with large plastic caps in the heads.

The caps really gripped the roofing paper without tearing it.

I also liked that the caps for the roof were bright orange. It helped me locate the trusses after the paper went on (it’s important to try and keep your weight above the trusses to avoid doing damage to the sheathing).

I covered both sides of the roof with paper and left the apex for last.

There was a little gap between the roofing sheathing at the apex where the two sides of the roof met. I was a little worried about leaks, so I thickened up the felt paper by applying two layers on the apex.

Here’s a picture of the apex with the extra layer of roofing paper (there are some shingles installed already, but I’m getting to that next):

Installing Shingles on the Shed Roof

After the felt paper, I moved onto the shingles. I’ve always wanted to work with shingles, so I was really looking forward to this learning opportunity.

After a lot of roofing research, I felt confident to proceed in knowing how to put shingles on a shed.

Coincidentally, part of our home’s roof was being replaced at this time by a roofing contractor due to a leak, so I talked to the guy for a little bit and he gave me some useful tips and confirmed that my plan for the shed’s roof sounded solid.

I bought 25-year asphalt 3-tab charcoal colored shingles from Home Depot.

I estimated I needed about 6 bundles of shingles. They are sold in packs called bundles, and each bundle covers about 33 sq.

The individual shingles are rectangular in shape with 3 tabs (as seen in the picture below):

The black line running across the center of the shingle is a tar line.

Shingles overlap one another, and when the sun heats up the roof, the tar line softens enough to adhere to the overlapping shingles.

Applying Starter Shingles on the Shed Roof

To begin installing shingles on the roof, I first had to apply starter shingles.

Some shingle bundles come with special shingle strips called starters that lack the 3 tabs and are just one continuous strip.

Because shingles always need to overlap each other, the first row of shingles on a roof needs a special starting strip, or else the tabs would rest directly on the felt paper below and expose it to the elements.

My shingle bundles did not have any starters, so I just made my own.

I used a utility knife and cut off the tabs from a few shingles. I cut just below the tar line.

Nailing Down the Shingles

With the starter strips made, I nailed them to the bottom edge of the roof, making sure the tar line was on the bottom.

I made sure to extend the shingles about an inch off the edge of the roof. This overhang is important to prevent water from running off the shingles and down the siding.

I know that the metal drip edge was installed below to prevent this, but this was just an extra measure of protection.

After the starters were installed, I was ready to install the regular tabbed shingles.

I overlapped the starter strip with the tabs from the other shingles and drove 4 nails per shingle just below the tar line (with two at the ends and two above each tab slit).

I worked my way across the shed roof to complete the first row. The last shingle in the row needed to be cut, but I left it intact for now, with plans to cut all the excess later.

To start the next row of shingles, I had to offset the first shingle so that the tab slits rested on the middle of a shingle tab below.

If I did not offset the starting shingle, then the tab slits would line up with the slits in the row below and increase the potential of water seeping through the shingles unto the roofing felt.

So using a utility knife, I cut off about 1/6th of the shingle.

I continued this process row-by-row until I got as close as possible to the apex of the roof.

Then I hopped over to the other side of the shed’s roof, and repeated the whole process (installed the starter shingles at the bottom, and worked my way up).

Here’s a picture of the shingles so far:

Finishing with a Ridge Cap on the Shed Roof

The last step to finish installing the shingles on the shed roof was to cover up the apex and form a solid ridge cap.

Once again, I had to cut the shingles to make special pieces for the apex on the shed roof.

Just like the starter strips, I cut off the tabs below the tar line.

Then I nailed each strip across the apex, perpendicular to the rest of the shingles on the sides.

As I worked my way across the apex, I overlapped each strip so each overlapping one covers the tar line on next one.

Here’s a picture of what the apex looked like after installing the shingles:Here’s a picture after installing the shingles on the roof (Eileen just put on a coat of primer on the siding too):

Priming and Painting the Shed

Speaking of primer, Eileen took care of all of the painting on the shed – from choosing the color to the last brush stroke.

And, painting the shed was a project by itself.

The shed took a lot of paint which we greatly underestimated. Here I was thinking how far a gallon of paint went on drywall when repainting a bedroom.

Needless to say, a gallon of primer barely touched the surface of the raw plywood siding on the shed. The plywood soaked up so much of the paint.

So, we went back and purchased a 5-gallon bucket of Zinnser brand primer. Eileen ended up painting the shed with 3 coats of primer.

After the primer, Eileen went on painting the shed with 2 coats of grey exterior paint.

The grey paint on the shed really made it pop, but more importantly, served as a thick protective barrier for the siding against water.

So in total, the shed required 5 coats of paint, taking about a week to complete.

It was well worth the time and effort though, and since Eileen did the painting, I could keep working on other shed tasks.

With the shed now primed and painted, next up was building a ramp for the riding lawn mower, building shed steps for the storage entrance, building doors, and installing the windows.

To keep reading to see how the shed turned out, check out the final post – Shed Project Phase 3 (Building Steps, Ramps, & Doors).

How to Fix Up an Old Lawn Mower

April 24, 2016 by Ash 12 Comments

As the days warmed up and the grass started growing again, it wasn’t too long afterward when it was time to awaken my riding mower from its slumber. When a nice sunny day came, I went out back to the shed, hopped on the mower and turned the key.

Nothing happened. I turned the key again, and again. It was just making a whirring sound. I couldn’t even try applying the choke because the engine was not even trying to turn over.

After trying a few more times, I was dismayed.

I knew I would have some trouble starting up the mower after the winter break, but not like this. It was clear that today was not the day for mowing. It was time to do some investigation and perform some mower maintenance.

I bought the used riding mower on Craigslist last summer. I got a great deal because it was 20 years old and was showing a lot of cosmetic wear. However, the previous owner kept up with the maintenance, and it ran pretty well for its age.

I was also not too of how to fix a riding lawn mower because I had confidence in my repair skills (having brought some old push mowers back to life at my previous home with some replacement parts).

How to Fix an Old Riding Lawn Mower

To prep for my maintenance project, I tracked down the mower manual online, located the consumer replaceable parts and ordered them online.

Then I put together Ash’s grand maintenance plan for reviving your riding mower, as outlined below.

1. Spark plugs and battery
2. Oil filter and oil change
3. Air filter and precleaner
4. Fuel filter
5. Clean out mower deck
6. Replace mower drive belt
7. Lubricate
8. Check tire pressure

Here’s a picture of the left and right side of my mower engine, with some of the areas above outlined:

1. Spark Plugs and Battery

The first thing I did was check for activity in the spark plugs.

Using a special spark plug socket, I pulled one of them out, still connected to the battery, and turned the key. There was no spark. I tried another spark plug that I knew was working (from my push mower), and still no spark.

This led me to believe the battery was low on juice. I had a 12 volt car battery charger, so I was going to try recharging it. It made sense that the battery would be low as the mower had not been run for a few months.

Before I recharged, I wanted to rule out a bad battery (incapable of being recharged). I tested the battery with a volt meter and got 12.4 volts which was actually normal. Any lower readings (especially in the 11 volt range) would have suggested a bad battery.

So I hooked up the battery to the recharger, setting it to 10 amps with an automatic shutdown on full charge. An hour later, the recharger said the battery was ready. I hooked it back up to the mower and tried starting the engine. Still no luck.

So Eileen picked up a new mower battery for me at Lowes (they seemed to have a better selection than Home Depot). I got a 275amp battery (suggested for mowers up to 21hp) making sure that the positive terminal was on the same side as the old battery (or else the wire hook ups would not reach). Here’s a picture of the new battery installed:

Here’s a picture of the exposed spark plug (which I was able to remove using a special socket):

We did bring in my old battery to Lowes for recycling. They give you a small discount (which covered a core charge fee for a new battery purchase).

We also picked up two new spark plugs. I installed the new battery and spark plugs and tried starting the engine…

Success!

The starter motor did not hesitate at all. The flywheel immediately began spinning, trying to start the engine. It did take a few tries to get the engine running, but eventually got it going. That leads me to the next maintenance steps.

2. Oil Filter & Oil Change

Now it was time to change the oil and oil filter.

I located the oil drain plug and setup a funnel and plastic container to collect the old oil. I then removed the oil dipstick from above, loosened the drain plug and out came the oil – pouring out slowly.

When the oil stopped coming, I screwed back in the plug and went to work on the filter. I put a rag under the existing filter to catch any oil that would spill. I twisted the filter and pulled it out of the mower.

Good thing I had the rag in place because a lot of oil came out of the filter. I grabbed the new oil filter, put a little oil on the gasket and screwed it into the mower.

Now it was time to pour in new oil. I poured nearly two quarts of 5W30 oil (picked up at the nearby gas station) down the oil dipstick hole, pausing every now and then to take a measurement with the dipstick to make sure I didn’t overfill.

Here’s a picture of the new oil filter and drain plug:

3. Air Filter and Pre-cleaner

Next up was the air filter and pre-cleaner.

It’s important to have a steady flow of filtered air entering your engine. Disruptions to this flow can lead to lack of power, excessive fuel consumption or problems starting up.

You can normally clean out the old filter, but I had no idea how long the existing one was in there. Therefore, I disposed of the old one and replaced with a new one.

Accessing the filter was easy. I just removed a wing nut and the metal housing. The air filter itself is just a cylinder with wire mesh and a paper filter.

The pre-cleaner is a piece of sponge wrapped around the filter. I unpacked the new pre-cleaner, and following the installation instructions. I moistened it with some motor oil and wrapped it around the new filter. Then, I replaced the old one on the mower engine.

Here’s a picture of the new air filter and pre-cleaner installed (without the metal housing so you can see it):

4. Fuel Filter

Now for the fuel filter. It’s recommended that you change the fuel filter on your mower once every season.

There can be lots of impurities in your gas tank (think about all the times you opened the tank lid for a refueling with grass still settling from the blades), so a season of mowing can clog up your filter.

Using the mower manual, I located the filter on the engine. If you’re having trouble finding yours, just follow the fuel line from the gas tank to the engine. The fuel filter is along that line.

To remove the filter, I first clamped the fuel line in between the filter and the tank. I didn’t want fuel dumping out of the tank once I removed the filter. I also put a container beneath the filter to catch any excess gas stuck in the line and filter.

Then I removed the hose clamps holding the filter in place and pulled off the fuel line. Luckily no fuel leaked out. The tank must have been nearly empty. I then attached the new filter, making sure the arrow indicating direction of fuel pointed towards the engine.

With the fuel lines clamped back onto the filter, I removed the temporary clamp pinching the line and installation was complete.

Here’s a picture of the new fuel filter installed:

At this point, the engine was now ready for the upcoming season. I turned the ignition key and the engine fired up without hesitation.

I didn’t even have to apply the choke. Then, I let the engine idle for 10 minutes to make sure it ran okay and didn’t have any fuel or oil leaks. After, I took it for a test drive, and it drove like a champ.

5. Clean out mower belt

Now onto the mower deck, which was giving me some trouble. While mowing the front lawn, I noticed a lot of squealing noises coming from the belts in the deck. Also, the collection bags were barely filling with grass. It got so bad that I actually had to disconnect the automatic bagger because the tubes were getting clogged with grass.

I switched to side discharge for the grass, which meant I spent a lot of time raking up the grass when done. Finally, a few times the engine actually died with the blades engaged.

After inspecting the mower deck, I concluded that the three problems I had stemmed from a worn mower belt and debris wedging against the belts. The debris particularly was causing a lot of friction with the belt and putting strain on the mower, causing the engine to stall out sometimes.

This also impacted the bagger because the blades could not spin at full speed and expel the grass fast enough. The belt also had clear evidence of being worn down. There were lots of cracks, and I was surprised the belt hadn’t broke already.

Removing and Cleaning the Mower Deck

To address my mower deck issues, I first removed the deck from the mower. It was not that difficult.

Following directions in the manual, I located and removed some retainer springs holding the deck pinned into the mower chassis. Then I slid the deck out from under the mower.

Here is a picture of the deck removed from the mower.

Technically I didn’t have to remove the mower deck to replace the belt. However the debris was really hard to reach and was easier to remove this way. I also wanted to take the opportunity to inspect the blades and underneath the deck.

Once I opened the deck, I removed all the debris with ease. There was a lot of it too, from packed dirt to wads of dried leaves. I could see why the belts were making so much noise. I’m sure it was a fire hazard too, with friction from the belts heating up the dried leaves and possibly igniting them.

Soon the deck was looking very clean. I flipped it over and inspected underneath. It wasn’t too bad under there. I just used a flat screwdriver to scrape off some grass patches that have been building up over time.

Sharpening the Mower Blades

When I checked out the blades, they were extremely dull. The sharp part was actually round and smooth. All this time mowing the lawn, I could have just whacked the grass with a baseball bat.

So I removed the 3 blades with a socket spanner, clamped each one in place and sharpened with my Dremel and a grinding stone bit.

After I sharpened both ends of the blade, I stuck a bolt in the blade to see if it was properly balanced. If either side of the blade dipped, it meant the blade was imbalanced and would cause a lot of vibration when spinning. Luckily, I did the job evenly when sharpening and the blades were balanced well.

Here is a picture of a blade clamped down right after I finished sharpening it (see how the sharpened part gleams):

Here I am reattaching the sharpened blades (I made sure to wear gloves so I didn’t cut myself):

Here’s a close-up of the mower deck showing some of the debris that I had to remove (it was a lot worse before):

6. Replacing the belt

Now to address the worn out belt. I took a picture of the belt route with my phone and then removed it. I installed the new belt matching the route from my picture.

Mower deck maintenance was now complete. I slid it back under the mower and reattached the retainer springs to secure it to the chassis. I started up the motor and engaged the blades. Nothing happened. Oh no, what happened? The blades did not spin.

I looked underneath the mower and discovered the belt had too much slack. I compared the new belt to the old one and saw that the new one was slightly bigger. Unfortunately, this model mower did not allow you to adjust the tension in the belts, so the new belt was unusable for me.

I ordered the correct part number online, but it was a third party belt. I should have spent the extra money for a factory replacement instead. Disappointed, I put back in the old belt, so I could at least use the mower and ordered a factory belt in the meantime. I’d install it in a few days when it arrives.

Let that be a lesson, be wary of third party replacements especially when the price looks too good to pass up.

7. Lubricant

I had almost completed my maintenance plan. Then, I applied all-purpose grease to a few key areas on the mower.

I used the mower manual to identify these areas, and applied grease where needed. A few areas also required silicone lubricant, which I was lucky enough to have a spray can of (I use it to keep my foosball table rods spinning like new).

I broke in the new lubricated parts with a drive around the yard, making sure to turn the steering wheel a lot. The neighbors must have worried what state I was in zigzagging the mower across the yard!

8. Tire Pressure

The final step was to check the tire pressure. I grabbed a pressure gauge from my car’s glove compartment box and compared the mower tire pressure to recommended specs in the manual.

They were a little low, so I used a bicycle pump to bring them back up to the correct PSI. Low tire pressure will cause excess drag when driving, and consume more fuel, so it’s important to keep your tires properly inflated.

Finally, the mower was in proper working condition for the new season. I documented what parts I replaced along with the date. This way I would remember for next season the parts I replaced.

Not everything in my maintenance plan needs to be done every season. I just wanted to hit all my bases this one time, since I had no way of knowing what the previous owner did.

If you are in a similar position, wondering how to fix your old riding lawn mower, then go through the above checklist. It’s been tried and proven.

Look out tall grass, I’m ready for you this season!

Installing Porch Railings to Increase Curb Appeal

April 11, 2016 by Ash 66 Comments

Our front porch was begging for an update.

Eileen was determined to rid the porch of that 1980s blue since the day we moved in. She was a teacher at the time, and on her first afternoon of summer, she was out painting the porch white. This was only the beginning of the porch update – as gorgeous white porch railings were on the horizon too.

Here’s a before picture of the blue porch.

Painting the porch was a quick job, and as you can see in the below picture, the white made such a difference.

In addition to painting the porch, Eileen also painted the cabinet that housed the electric meter and Fios box. Before it was blue – so it drew your attention – yet, she painted it a creamy white color to make it blend in more.

It was only about a day’s work, and it looked great. However, something was missing.

Planning the Porch Railings

We wanted to liven up the front of our home even more. We thought a little more privacy would be nice too, so we decided to install porch railings.

Eileen was pregnant at the time, so she would often walk around the neighborhood with our dog. During their walks, she made it her mission to look at other styles of porch railings, deciding what she liked and how to make the porch railings work for our home.

Eventually we settled on a look and height for the porch railings that we thought would work well with our home.

Two Approaches to Installing Porch Railings

I considered two approaches to installing the porch railings. The first was prefabricated handrails sold at Home Depot. These were 6 ft painted railing segments, prefabricated or ready to bolt onto the posts. Using prefabricated porch railings would be the fastest way to install porch railings.

The second approach was buying the individual porch railing posts and handrails and constructing the segments myself.

I decided against the first porch railing method. Buying in increments of 6 ft meant a chunk of the prefabs would be wasted when fitted on our home.

Building the segments myself meant I could fine tune the cost to exactly the dimensions allowed by our porch, and this porch railing method yielded the cheapest outcome.

The downside was that more labor would be involved with installing the porch railings; however, I was never the one to back down from some good old hard work.

Choosing Materials for the Porch Railings

I measured the distances between my porch posts then off we went to Home Depot. We putzed around looking at porch railing posts and found a style we liked.

Then we looked at the handrails. We technically could have just gone with a 2 x 4 for the handrail, but we wanted a little more pizzazz.

Ultimately, we went with a handrail with some decorated grooves, and it came with slots for the rail posts, eliminating the need for me to space the posts out myself.

Before leaving the store, I picked up some galvanized L brackets to attach the handrails to the porch railing posts, and some 2 x 4s to serve as a base for the railings.

How to Install Porch Railings

With the porch railing materials ready to go and a free weekend ahead, I was ready to start installing the wood porch railings.

Constructing Porch Railing Segments

The next step in the porch railing installation was to construct 3 railing segments.

Two of the longer wooden segments faced the street, while a short segment on the side connected the masonry wall to the end post.

Porch railing construction was fairly simple. I used exterior deck screws to attach the handrail to the railing posts, and the pre-cut slots in the handrail on the individual posts definitely sped things up.

I actually constructed the segments in the living room while we were catching up on our shows. See picture below of our porch railing install:

Attaching the Segments to Porch Posts

Now it was time to attach the segments to the porch railing posts.

I cut some 2 x 4 squares to serve as “feet” for the segments. These feet were attached to the bottom of each porch post, and the segments would rest on them.

This foundation felt a lot more sturdy than simply using L brackets to mount the segments.

See picture below (ignore the fact that the railings are already painted).

The two longer railing segments installed quickly to the porch posts.

The bottoms were secured to the 2 x 4 feet, and the handrails were secured using L brackets to the porch posts.

Mounting the Porch Railings to the Brick Wall

The short side of the wood porch railing segment took a little more time due to a wood-to-brick mount required.

My solution was to bolt a piece of 2 x 4 to the brick wall and attach the porch railing segment to that. It would act just like the opposite end of the segment where the porch post was.

My first attempt at attaching the 2 x 4 to the wall failed.

I had tried using masonry nails but they started chipping the sides of the bricks. Then I remembered the very first drill I bought was a hammer drill!

When I bought this drill, I didn’t really know what the ‘hammer’ part meant. I was naive at the time, and it sounded cool and looked awesome. So I had bought the largest drill in the store.

Of course, now, I am wiser and know that hammer drills (when the hammer mode is engaged) repeatedly, driving the bit back and forth against the surface to help penetrate really tough surfaces like masonry.

Unfortunately, I did not have any masonry bits so had to run back out to Home Depot to pick some up. Regular wood bits would fail pitifully against a hard surface like brick.

Hammer Drill to the Porch Railing Rescue

I was excited to try out my hammer drill for its actual purpose. All these years I’d been using it (very inconveniently due to its enormous size) as a regular wood drill. I got back home with my new masonry bits and pounded away at the wall.

It sounded like a jackhammer, but it got the job done very neatly and quickly. I bored some holes through the 2 x 4 straight into the wall, and used some screws to make a secure connection.

Now I had a wooden mounting point for the porch railing segment. One minor task remained, and that was to drill out a small hole at the bottom edge of the 2 x 4 mount for some existing coaxial cable to run through.

Here’s a side picture showing where I needed to mount the shorter porch railing segment between a porch post and the masonry wall:

Painting the Porch Railings

After installing the wooden porch railings, the last step of the project was the painting. This was actually the most labor intensive part. I had to paint each individual railing post and it felt like it took forever with a brush.

Eileen normally does all of the painting on our projects, and since she was pregnant, I had to do it myself. Painting the wood porch railings would have went so quickly with a paint sprayer, but I did not have one of those.

Slowly though, the final picture started to take shape. I even repainted all the porch posts to make them pop with the railings.

Here’s a picture of the mounted rail segments being painted:

The white wood porch rails were finally done and they looked great.

Time & Cost of Installing Porch Railings

The total cost of the front porch railing installation was only $150, and it took a weekend of work.

Not only did the front porch railings enhance the aesthetics, but they were also very functional.

We started spending a lot more time on the front porch, as the railings gave us a little more privacy and also served as a wonderful enclosure for our dog Zeus.

We simply sat at the open end, and Zeus could be free to run back and forth within the confines of the front porch.

Below are some pictures of the front porch makeover:

Here’s a before and after of the whole front porch railing installation project. The difference was incredible – and the cost of update was beyond reasonable.

Our home got a nice upgrade with the fresh paint and front porch railings. It definitely boosted our curb appeal in a neighborhood of similar looking houses.

We were thrilled with how nice the front porch makeover looked, and so was our realtor when the time came to put the house on the market.

Check out how we sold our house in less than a week! I think the porch railings helped 🙂 If you have been wondering how to install porch railings, it’s a simple project that has a great pay-off.

A Space-Saving Kitchen Spice Rack

March 29, 2016 by Ash 42 Comments

I love to cook, and I use a lot of spices – from sweet Hungarian paprika to spicy Jamaican jerk seasoning.

You name it, I most likely have it.

Eileen, on the other hand, loves to bake – so on any given day, we have all the ingredients to make anything chocolate chip bundt cake to spicy Bahamian chicken.

Unfortunately, with such a large spice and baking collection, it was getting very difficult to find something when we needed it.

We were storing all the spices in a corner cabinet, and they took up the entire cabinet. We tried everything for organization – a spinning rack, a mini spice organizer – nothing seemed to save us space or time.

When making a meal, I would have to dig through everything to find what I needed. And Eileen wasn’t happy when she was looking for cinnamon or baking powder, and it was shoved behind the seven spices I used the night before for taco seasoning.

Planning the Spice Rack

Shortly thereafter, we were having dinner at a friend’s house and saw their spice solution.

They were utilizing a 6-inch gap between their fridge and the wall to fit a movable spice shelf, mounted on wheels.

I thought it was such a brilliant idea. I googled the idea later that night and saw it was a very popular spice storage solution.

There were lots of incarnations on Pinterest. I was set on incorporating a similar design into my kitchen, but I wanted to take it up a notch.

I didn’t like the wheeled shelf design. It would limit you to one massive shelf. Also, without some type of track system, I thought the shelf would be wobbly.

After some thought, I settled on 2 independent spice shelves mounted to the wall on drawer slides.

Aside from the drawer slides, I had enough scrap wood in the garage to build my design.

I didn’t really plan this project out much (aside from basic measurements of available space), mostly winging it as I went along. Nonetheless, the sliding spice rack turned out well.

How to Build a Sliding Spice Rack

I started off building one of the shelves. First, I fabricated a box with ¾” thick boards and nailed a hardboard composite backing. I then made some compartments for organization.

I averaged the sizes of my spice jars to determine a good depth and height for the shelves.

Here’s an early picture of the shelf unit:

Determined to re-use scraps from the garage, I attached some wood trim to serve as fences to prevent the spices from falling out.

Also, I couldn’t just attach the drawer slides to back of the shelf structure in the picture above.

I had limited space between the wall and the fridge, and fitting the spices with a drawer slide behind exceeded my available width.

So my solution was to mount the drawer slides above and below the shelf, being almost flush with the shelf backing.

I attached a piece of 2×4 to the top and bottom of the shelf to serve as a mount for the slide.

I then attached some plywood to the front of the shelf and screwed on a handle.

Then I mounted the two drawer slides to the wall, and attached the shelf. The slides were attached directly to wall studs.

I also had to make sure that both slides were equally level. Any discrepancies in the slide angles would most likely result in a jamming drawer.

Here is a close-up picture of the mounted shelf with some spices in it (notice the repurposed wood trim):

Here is a picture from the back, showing how I attached the drawer slides to the DIY spice rack:

I built the second shelf much like the first. However, I increased the height to make the most of the available space.

After mounting this shelf, I painted the front facing plywood, blending in to match the color of the kitchen (see pictures below of the completed spice rack).

Using the DIY Spice Rack

The sliding spice rack turned out great. We adapted the top shelf for our most frequently used spices, while the lesser used ones ended up in the bottom shelf.

Whenever we needed a spice, I just pulled out the appropriate drawer and located it instantly – very different from before!

I should mention too that the corner cabinet that previously held all of our spices was now completely empty, giving us more space for all those pesky tupperware containers.

Anyone have a good storage solution for those?!

Time & Cost

Building the spice rack took about one weekend, and the total cost was less than $50 because of all the scrap wood I used (my estimate is about $70 if you are buying all the wood from the store).

The spice rack became the hit of many parties.

Our friends were always asking about those mysterious handles next to the fridge, and were amazed when the handles revealed a plethora of spices.

Our next door neighbors noticed the spice rack when we were moving out of the house and were fascinated with it, saying, “Forget all those updates you did, this is what sold the house!”

(As an aside, we replaced that dingy pantry curtain with French doors before we moved, check it out here).

If you are looking for a solution to your spices, building a sliding spice rack could be the answer 🙂

Making Sliding Storage Shelves in One Weekend

March 20, 2016 by Ash 74 Comments

My garage was getting a little out of control. Bulky tools from home improvements projects, boxes upon boxes of holiday decorations, gardening tools, piles of landscaping bags – nothing seemed to have a place.

It was hard to get work done efficiently – not to mention, find something when I was looking for it.

It was time to get smart about garage organization and storage.

Determining a Space for the Sliding Storage Shelves

I already had several prefabricated metal garage shelves doing a decent job of garage storage, but they had their shortcomings.

I had been eyeing this corner space next to our garage fridge. The space was 3 feet deep and about 6 feet wide, and it was currently underutilized.

There were just piles of boxes, gardening tools, and other things that had accumulated.

Corner spaces in the garage often become dumping grounds, as ours had become. I decided to capitalize on the vertical square footage, transforming this messy corner into garage storage shelving.

So, after a few days of pondering over garage storage shelving ideas and messing around in TinkerCad (an awesome 3D designing website), I came up with the idea below for garage storage shelves:

Garage Storage Shelf Requirements

I had 3 requirements for the sliding storage shelves project for my garage. My first requirement was deep storage shelves. The area had a lot of depth, and I wanted to make the most of the space.

I went with 3 ft deep shelves; this was twice as deep as the prefab shelves, so twice the garage storage space.

The second requirement (which is not evident in the TinkerCad drawing above) was sliding garage shelves.

Although 3 ft deep garage shelves would hold a lot, trying to reach something at the back seemed very burdensome. You would have to move things out of the way to get back there, which wasn’t very efficient, especially for vertical space.

Therefore, I wanted some of the deep garage shelves to be on drawer slides.

My last requirement was enough clearance at the bottom of the garage shelves to fit some of my taller tools (like my shopvac), and for them to just roll out (without having to drop off a shelf).

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Preparing Space for the Garage Storage Shelves

To start the sliding storage shelves, I first cleared out and cleaned the designated area for the garage shelves.

Then I located the studs in the wall (using my trusty stud finder), and used green painters tape preserve their locations.

The garage shelving unit was going to be bolted to the studs to make it stable.

Here’s the wall with the studs marked:

Building the Shelf Supports

The actual construction of the garage shelves was fairly straight forward. I just followed the design I created to construct the sliding storage shelves.

The whole garage shelf was made of 2 x 4 wood that was cut to different lengths.

Unfortunately, I was so caught up in the construction (it was a pretty fun project to work on), I forgot to take many pictures. Therefore, I’m just going to provide some visuals.

First, I made 3 vertical support structures for the garage shelves. I would install these on the ends and middle.

These supports looked like a 3 ft wide ladder – see pic below:

Next, I used 6 ft cuts of 2 x 4s to connect the 3 vertical supports, and to form a basis for each garage shelf.

I also added 2 extra 6 ft pieces at the back of the structure to bolt into the wall studs.

Adjusting for Sliding Garage Shelves

Before considering sliding storage shelves, I thought about making all of the shelves look like the very top one. However, that was going to be too simple, and I like to make things a little challenging.

Hence, the modifications for the garage sliding shelves.

The shelf slides were going to bear the load of the garage shelves, so it was not necessary to run as many 6 ft planks as the top shelf (which was just a static shelf with no slides). Three connecting pieces per row was sufficient.

Next, I needed structures to attach the slides to. I came up with the design below:

Building Sliding Garage Storage Shelves Notice the 4 slide supports on each row (one on each end and two in the middle). In between each pair of slide supports was going to be the actual sliding shelves.

At this point in the project, it was time to secure the structure to the garage wall. If I proceeded any further with construction, the DIY shelving unit would be too heavy for me to carry (not that it wasn’t already really heavy).

Also, there was just enough room for me to squeeze in between the 2 x 4s to get to back to bolt the structure to the wall studs.

Next, I wedged myself in the middle of garage shelving unit, picked it up like superman, and inched my way over to the wall. I used some lag bolts to secure the shelves to the studs.

Constructing the Storage Shelves

After that, I had to build the actual sliding storage shelves. Here is my design for each sliding shelf:

Building Garage Storage Shelves that Slide

During construction of the garage shelves, I did add an elevated piece to the back of each shelf. I didn’t want items falling off the back as I pulled the shelf forward.

First, I installed the slides on each slide support. Then, using ¼” scrap wood as shims, I elevated each shelf and secured them to the slides.

With the sliding shelves installed, the garage shelf project was pretty much complete. Last, I just had to install some gate handles for each shelf to be able to pull them out easily.

How to Build Storage Shelves for the Garage in One Weekend

Although, I did make a last-minute design decision though – I omitted the bottom row of sliding shelves and replaced it with a static shelf (like the very top one).

I realized that some of my tools (like my miter saw) didn’t have enough clearance to fit on the DIY sliding shelf.

Consequently, I settled for just 2 rows of sliding shelves, which was still plenty of awesomeness.

I took the pictures below of the completed DIY garage storage shelves:

Here you will notice the shelves’ height in comparison to the fridge.

There is also enough space to pull a car into the garage too – with about a foot to spare.

However, I was a little worried about bumping into the garage shelf with the car, so I got a cheap parking sensor to help (it turns from green to yellow to red as you get within a foot of the sensor).

Bonus Storage Shelving

After I finished the garage shelves, I had an extra 2 x 4 leftover. Still in a shelf-frenzy mood, I turned those into some normal shelves on the wall.

To the left of the sliding shelf structure was a hideous area begging for some DIY garage organization, and a prime target for a storage solution:

Creating More Garage Storage - Sliding and Floating Shelves Using some shelf brackets, I bought a while ago, I threw together a simple shelf for the garage with the leftovers from the main project.

Below is what I turned the above disaster into – see shelf at the top of the picture.

Using the Sliding Storage Shelves

The sliding storage shelves truly transformed a disorganized corner. We gained a ton of lost space through building the shelf tower.

Storage-wise, the garage shelves hold more than we could have imagined – most of the boxes of holiday decorations (Eileen loves that she can easily access these), tool boxes, and large tools such as the miter saw.

Underneath the storage shelves, I store the shop vac, jaw horse, and snow blower. It’s the perfect height.

Pleased with the outcome of my DIY garage organization, I found building the shelving unit one of the most fun and creative projects I’ve worked on recently.

I also completely impressed Eileen with doing the whole project in one weekend – that was the best part. She was also thrilled that the cost was less than $200.

If your garage is getting out of control and you have underutilized space, you should definitely think about building these sliding garage storage shelves.

The design worked beautifully, and you can’t beat the turnaround time and low-cost..

With phase 1 of “Project DIY Garage Organization” was now complete. Phase 2 of the garage construction is coming this summer – a dream workbench with fancy storage solutions.

How to Make a Built-In Bookshelf

March 10, 2016 by Ash Leave a Comment

To put it simply, Eileen has more books than anyone I’ve ever known – books from her childhood, books from college, books of poetry – some she’s read and some she just likes to collect.

But long story short, she was running out of room storing them on a wobbly old shelf – in double rows, and then there were the boxes in the closet.

Eileen kept telling me that she had the perfect spot for a built-in shelf, so I pulled out a Post-It note and sketched out a basic design with measurements.

Planning the DIY Bookshelf

First, I planned out all the cuts I needed for the DIY bookshelf and put together shopping list for Home Depot.

I wanted to make a very sturdy bookshelf with minimal visible hardware. So I opted for dado joints and a center support column. Also, I decided to use pine for the lumber.

I did lack the proper tools for making dado joints, so I added a plunge router to the shopping list.

This was going to be my first router project, and I was looking forward to it very much.

Constructing the Bookshelf

After cutting all the wood planks to pre-measured lengths, the next step was to mark all the grooves for the dados.

Dado joints are the simplest joints there are but are very strong and perfect for bookshelves.

They are just grooves cut into the vertical support planks on both ends of the bookshelf, where the horizontal shelves slide right into and rest.

My pine lumber was ¾” thick. So, I needed to use a router bit of the same thickness for the grooves.

After the grooves were outlined on the two vertical support planks, I secured the planks side-by-side to prepare for the routing.

The grooves on the two support planks needed to be in perfect alignment. Therefore, I screwed the planks together from underneath with some strips of scrap wood.

It was important to keep the planks firmly in place to prevent shifting as I cut the grooves.

Routing the Dados

Finally it was time to use my plunge router.

I did a few practice cuts on scrap wood to get the feel for it and was now ready for the real thing.

For each groove, I affixed a straight piece of wood to act as a jig for the plunger. Without this guide, it would have been impossible to cut a straight line.

Below is a picture of the plunge router and some grooves already cut.

You can also see the outlines I made for the uncut grooves, as well as the strip of wood I used for a guide:

Here’s a close-up view of the dado groove. You can see how smooth the cut was.

The router bit went through the soft pine like butter, making a very professional cut:

Assembling the Pieces

With all the dados cut, assembly of the shelves could begin.

With the help of a rubber mallet, I inserted each shelf into its corresponding dado joint and secured each connection with two screws on the outside.

Here you can see how perfectly each shelf fit into the dado:Assembly of the shelves was almost done at this point.

Next came the center support column.

As you can see in the background, I did my work in my man cave. We didn’t have a garage to work in – hence the chaotic background and poor lighting.

Finishing with Wood Putty & Stain

Construction of the DIY bookshelf was completed at this point. All that was left was to fill the screw holes with wood putty and apply a wood stain.

Eileen stained the wood with two coats of a dark MinWax stain.

Securing the Shelf

The final step was to secure the bookshelf to the wall in the office.

I used some metal L brackets to attach a few shelves to studs in the wall. I strategically placing them so they would be hidden from view.

Also, I had to remove some of the wall baseboard trim so that the shelf could fit flush against the wall.

Below are pictures of bookshelf bolted securely to the wall.

I wasn’t too happy about the electrical outlet at the bottom left being partially blocked by a shelf. However, it was too late to do much about it now. The outlet wouldn’t be visible anyway because of the books.

Here is the completed bookshelf with actual books. We later replaced that old wooden door to the room with a white six-paneled one – but we don’t have any pictures of that.

There was no sagging at all with the weight of the books.

Eileen finally had her library organized on this built-in DIY bookshelf. I use the word ‘library’ because who else has enough books to make an Irish Classics section?!

Years later, the shelves remained perfectly straight, thanks to the dado joints and center support column.

Fast forward a few years, in our new house, I made another DIY bookshelf – a bookshelf with a window seat, using the background I had from designing this shelf.

It’s Eileen’s absolute favorite.

How to Easily Make a Beautiful Stone Walkway

February 27, 2016 by Ash 47 Comments

When we bought our first home, we loved the detached deck in the backyard. It was large, well-lit, easy to maintain, and looked like it was going to be great for entertaining guests.

However, as the years went by, we didn’t use it as much as we thought.

It turned out that being detached from the house was more of an inconvenience.

We had to walk through the grass to get to the deck, so when I got behind on the mowing, or after a rain shower, the deck wasn’t as appealing.

Then Eileen came up with the idea to build a stone walkway to the deck, so the deck could be easily accessed no matter the weather or condition of the grass.

So after some online research, we embarked on the stone walkway project.

How to Build a Stone Walkway

First, here’s a picture of the yard before we got too far in. Eileen is hard at work with the shovel, and Zeus is supervising.

Digging the Trench

To build a stone walkway, our first step was to dig a 6-inch deep trench from the backdoor patio to the deck. I outlined the proposed stone walkway by pinning yarn in the ground.

Then, staying within the boundaries of the yarn, we dug out the trench.

This step went by pretty quickly. We used a standard round pointed digging shovel.

There were no large trees nearby, so there were no roots to deal with.

After the trench was dug, we switched to a square pointed shovel and worked along the edge to make a nice flush wall.

Then we used a 8 x 8 steel tamper to compact the dirt, making a solid and level surface for the rocks to follow.

Here’s a picture of the dug-out trench. We were on our way to building a stone path 🙂

Laying the Stone Foundation

Next in building the stone pathway was laying down large crushed stone.

This layer of stone was to provide a sturdy foundation to support whatever weight got carried across the pathway.

Home Depot sold the stone in 0.5 cubic feet bags. In total, we used about 35 of these bags.

To distribute the stone evenly, we found it best to place the sealed bags at intervals, and open them in the pathway.

Then the stones were spread out using a shovel and metal bow rake.

Installing Lawn Edging & Fabric

After the foundation was laid, we had to install lawn edging against the wall of the trench.

The edging was needed to keep the stones inside the pathway, so they wouldn’t wander into the grass.

To install, we ran it along the inside edge of the trench, nailing in metal stakes at regular intervals and at corners.

Afterwards, landscaping fabric was laid down to help keep weeds out of the pathway.

Here’s what the pathway looked like with the edging and fabric. We were definitely getting the hang of building a stone walkway.

Laying the Stones

Next up in our stone walkway project was the second layer of stones.

Unlike the foundational stone layer, this was the topmost layer that was exposed to foot traffic.

The rocks needed to be small so they could compact nicely. We went with about 30 bags of white marble chips.

Prior to starting work on the stone path, our yard had some stepping stones embedded into the ground for access to the deck.

They required constant maintenance as grass would grow over them very quickly. In fact, we did not even know about them for the first year of living there because the grass grew over them.

We wanted to incorporate them, so we scattered them across our path and partially buried them with the marble chips to secure them in place.

This turned out to be a very functional aspect in building the stone path.

It allowed us to get to the deck without having to walk on the marble chips.

Although the marble chips were nice-looking, they tended to get stuck in your sandals/slippers, and were not comfortable to walk on if you were barefoot – so it was great to have the stepping stones.

Here’s a picture with the marble chips and embedded stepping stones:

Adding a Cove to the DIY Stone Walkway

The stone pathway to the deck was now completed.

However, we decided to build a small addition to it – a pathway to the right leading to a little cove.

The idea was actually tossed around at the beginning, but we wanted to see how the path turned out first before digging up that part of the yard.

To the right of the path, there was a small table with 2 seats. However, it was often overgrown with grass and weeds and difficult to maintain.

We wanted to make the little cove a functional aspect of the yard again.

So, repeating the steps we did for the stone path to the deck, we dug out a trench for the addition for layered the necessary stones.

Here’s a picture of the trench dug out:

Finally, here is the completed addition once the stones were added. All that was missing was the table and two chairs:

And, All the Leftover Dirt…

You can also see me stressing out about the big patch of dirt in the middle of the yard, leftover from digging the stone pathway.

I was never good at getting grass to grow, so I wasn’t looking forward to that project.

Prior to the large dirt patch was a giant dirt mound from all the digging. While trying to figure out where to relocate all this dirt, our neighbor asked if he could have it – apparently his dogs left a lot of holes in his yard.

So we shoveled all the dirt right over the fence into his yard (don’t try that without your neighbor’s approval).

Anyway, our hard work on the stone walkway paid off! We had a wonderful looking stone path providing easy access to the deck.

The walkway was very low maintenance, and even our dog used it instead of running through the grass – he hates to get his feet wet – oh Zeus.

Here’s the before and after pictures of the stone walkway:

In just two weekends, Eileen and I made this stone path that connected our patio to our detached deck. If you are looking to build a stone walkway, it’s an easy project with a large payout! And, the total cost was around $250.

Eileen and I, as well as Zeus, used the pathway more than we ever thought, so it was worth every penny.

How to Build a Storage Shed from Scratch (Phase 1)

February 4, 2016 by Ash 46 Comments

With a larger house comes a bigger yard. I knew my little push lawn mower could only do so much with half an acre. This was proven true after nearly 3 hours mowing the grass, and stopping to empty the bag every 2 minutes.

Because of this, I bought a used riding mower that sped things up significantly, as I can now finish cutting the lawn in just over half an hour.

However, the behemoth was taking up half our garage. I had big plans for our new garage, and as much as I loved my new riding mower, its home was not going to be the garage.

This was an excellent opportunity to work on my dream shed project – teaching myself how to build a storage shed.

Storage Shed Plans and Designs

I worked on building the DIY storage shed single-handedly over the summer. I wasn’t sure that building a shed was in my skill set, but I did a lot of research, watched a lot of videos, and asked some contractor gurus for advice.

The result?

An amazing DIY storage shed that my wife still can’t believe I built.

If you are wondering how to build a storage shed or if building a shed from scratch is within your skill set, keep reading this DIY shed tutorial. I’m breaking it into two posts because of the amount of details.

Choosing a Storage Shed Design

In learning how to build a storage shed, the first thing I had to do was decide on a shed design and plans.

Now if I was going to build a shed, I wanted it to be multi-functional and not just mower storage. I went over several ideas in my head about how I could use the new storage in the shed.

I initially thought it would be nice to have an area of the DIY shed to store bagged lawn clippings and keep it dry from the rain. It was annoying trying to handle soaking wet yard waste bags once exposed to the elements all week.

I also wanted to remove some of the bulkier items from the garage (like the wheelbarrow and fertilizer spreader), so the storage shed needed to be large enough to accommodate these things.

After taking measurements of the riding mower, I padded the size to include additional storage. I settled on a 10 x 16 shed plan.

This would give me ample space to park the mower and store gardening equipment and large tools.

When planning things out, I usually like picturing the end product and doing a walk-through in my head to make sure everything makes practical sense.

I envisioned myself driving the mower into the storage shed, stepping off to the left (bagging chute was on the right), and walking out the shed door.

I knew I wanted the mower entrance to be on the far end, and shed storage directly adjacent. Now if I stepped off to the left of the mower, I didn’t want to be walking into a wall.

I thought it would be a tight squeeze to fit between the mower and the wall, so I wanted to place the mower entrance on the right size of the shed.

Deciding on Storage Shed Plans

With the basic requirements of how to build a storage shed in mind, I started shopping online for storage shed plans. There are lots of sites online selling plans for custom built storage sheds.

I ended up going with www.icreatables.com. They had designs more to my personal liking, and they also had a ton of resources (video walk-throughs of storage shed constructions).

I found a “Cape Cod” shed design that I liked a lot. It came with a large overhang that would be perfect for keeping rain out of my bagged yard waste.

I just needed to add a deck to make a little porch on the storage shed to elevate my bags off the ground. Here’s my first sketch of the DIY shed:

As you can see in the picture, I have the mower entrance on the far right, and a porch on the rear for storing bags of lawn clippings.

I also added a smaller door on the side of the shed to easily access the storage area of the shed. Two windows were sufficient to let in enough lighting. I also factored in a ramp for the mower.

Don’t let the 12 x 16 dimensions fool you. The extra two feet was accounting for the overhang, so the storage shed plan was still 10 x 16.

The shed foundation was going to rest on some 4 x 4 skids, sitting on 18 concrete blocks.

I did look into concrete anchors, but opted for the skid design due to simplicity.

Also a majority of comparable storage sheds in my area were resting on skids, so that gave me confidence that I was making the right decision.

I knew I was not in a flood zone either. If this were the case, I would have had to anchor the DIY shed permanently.

I purchased the storage shed plans for $15 and started going over the material list and putting together a cost estimate.

Preparing for Construction

Moving on to the construction part of how to build a shed – this part of the storage shed construction took quite some time as I had no experience in construction of this magnitude. I had to google lots of techniques and terminology while going through the storage shed plans.

Also I can’t tell you how much of a resource youtube was for me. With each part of the shed construction process in the plans, I had to picture myself actually doing the work to know if it was within my skill set and if I had the correct equipment.

I did have to purchase a number of tools to complete the shed project, but I’ll get to those in a bit.

After mulling over the storage shed plans and materials, I hit a snag.

To accomplish the two feet roof overhang, I needed a 16ft LVL (laminated veneer lumber) beam.

This is essentially a really strong, hard, and heavy piece of wood running across the underside of the overhang. It needed to be strong enough to handle the weight of the shed’s roof.

Unfortunately, the storage shed plans called for a certain size LVL beam that was really expensive for me and was not available at the local Home Depot.

I considered making my own beam, but abandoned this idea out of lack of experience. The last thing I wanted to do was make something unsafe.

At this point, I was also getting a little overwhelmed at the construction design of the overhang.

This was a turning point in my shed project. So teaching myself how to build a storage shed, I ended up abandoning the overhang design and opting for a more traditional shed.

This meant ditching the storage of the yard waste bags. It wasn’t such a terrible loss. If I really wanted to, I could construct a box with a flap at the top to store the bags in.

So, I browsed through more shed designs and bought a simpler one for another $15.

After some tweaks to the purchased plans, here was the final design I ended up going with:

That sketch needed a bit of explanation as it does look a lot different than my original idea and went against my initial plan of the mower entrance being on the far right.

How to Build a Storage Shed

At this point in the shed project, I had already started doing some of the prep work outside that was not going to change, regardless of the shed design.

Specifically, I laid out the 18 concrete blocks for the skids and worked on getting them leveled properly for the storage shed (see pictures below).

Here’s a small tip about leveling the skids for a storage shed. Even though I tried my best to get the concrete blocks perfectly level, there were a few that were off by a little.

This left a gap when the skids were rested on them. So to fill the gaps, I used scraps of roofing shingles. I read this shed tip online, and it helped me out a lot.
After leveling off the concrete blocks and placing the 4 x 4 skids on them, it became very apparent that as flat as the yard looked, there was a subtle slope that made the right side of the shed about a foot higher off the ground than the left side.

This made it very inconvenient to have the shed ramp on the right side. It meant I would need a much bigger ramp (more materials and expense).

Also, that extra foot of height was making me nervous about driving the mower up it. How simple it would be to just have the ramp on the left side of the storage shed, where the ground height was minimal.

So, in my DIY shed design, I relocated the mower entrance. I did some more measurements and decided that the squeeze between the mower and the wall (when exiting the mower on the left) would not be so bad.

Nonetheless, I still kept my fingers crossed it would work out. Also, I had to relocate the storage shed entrance door since that was where the mower was going to park.

I did have to add some steps into my shed design to accommodate the big drop from the door to the ground now.

Additionally, I moved the windows around in my shed plans. The windows are on the front right corner now.

It all worked out for the best as this was the optimal setup to allow the most sunlight in. My yard has lots of big trees, and most of the storage shed is usually under tree shade.

As you can tell in the picture with the 4 x 4 skids, I get the most sunlight from the right side of the shed so relocating the windows to the right made the most sense.

Happy with the new design, I was excited to my DIY shed project – as I was making some good progress constructing the storage shed.

Ordering the Shed Materials

One of the most exciting and anticipated moments in the project was getting the Home Depot delivery of materials. For $75 delivery fee, Home Depot dropped off a gigantic pile of lumber for the storage shed on my driveway.

With my wife’s help, it only took a couple of hours to relocate the lumber into my garage to keep it save from the weather.

It was also very fitting that it happened to be our 5th year wedding anniversary, and wood is the appointed gift for 5 years! So happy anniversary my dear – wood!

Anyway, prior to ordering, I made a saved list called “Storage Shed” on Home Depot’s website, and added all the materials I needed.

Money-Saving Tips for Building Sheds

The total came to around $2000. I was able to knock off an extra $250 though, and here’s how: ebay has lots of 10% off coupons for Home Depot (up to $200 off). I’ve come to realize that these coupons are hard to get a hold of for free. They typically sell for around $35 on ebay.

This was a bargain for me because that $35 that I would spend on the coupon would save me $200 off my storage shed cost.

Incidentally, the day I was going to purchase the coupon on ebay, I checked my mailbox and saw a bright yellow letter from Home Depot. I knew instantly what it was – a 10% off coupon!

What were the odds? We just moved into our new home a few months prior, and Home Depot sent us a coupon congratulating us on our move. Well, we saved another $35. If you aren’t as lucky as me, buy the coupon on ebay for your project, if it makes sense for your budget.

For the other $50 I saved – I used ebay. I was able to purchase 2 gift cards on ebay worth $500 each, but selling for $475 each.

How to Build a Shed Foundation

The next step in learning how to build a shed is to work on the shed foundation. I made the skids out of 6 pieces of 4 x 4 x 8 pressure-treated wood.

Pretty much all wood used in the storage shed was pressure treated, by the way. The wood was treated with a special chemical to keep bugs (and moisture to some degree) out. When building outdoor structures, you really need pressure-treated wood.

A word of caution though, be careful about splinters and sawdust from cutting. Splinters on the skin might sting or give a rash because of the chemicals.

Also, wear a dust mask when cutting the wood. You don’t want to be inhaling chemically treated sawdust.

For the storage shed skids, I needed each of the 3 rows to be 16 ft long, so I joined 2 of the 8 ft pieces with a mending plate.

With the 4 x 4 skids now in place, I finally had a platform to start erecting the storage shed. I followed the directions in the plans to frame the floor joists (see picture).
Looks awesome, right? After framing the floor joists, I secured it to the 4 x 4 skids with some L brackets.

Also, do you see my framing nail gun on the right hand side? I could not have built the shed without it.

I highly recommend this type of tool for building large structures like this shed. The specific gun I have is a Paslode gas framing gun. I bought a used one on ebay for $100. They normally retail for several hundred dollars, so it was a great deal. I did have to buy a cleaning kit though because the nails were starting to jam after repeated use.

Gas framing nail guns are the way to go if you don’t have a pneumatic compressor. They use a special butane fuel cell (a small cylindrical cartridge you insert into the back) and a rechargeable battery.

The nail gun ignites some of the butane to fire a piston forward and drive the nail in.

It’s really powerful (and dangerous if you’re not careful) and makes framing wooden structures a breeze.

Here’s my nail gun and me:

How to Build a Shed Floor

In learning how to build a storage shed, the next step was the actual floor. I used several 4 x 8 sheets of ¾” T&G orient strand board, following the sheeting patterns in the plans. The T&G stands for tongue and groove.

One end of the board has a protruding strip called the tongue, while the other end of the board has a groove. The tongue of one sheet is meant to be inserted into the groove of the next sheet, interlocking them together.

Once nailed down to the floor joists, the T&G system made a very sturdy floor for my shed.

I also applied a deck finish to the floor to protect it from water.

I knew it was going to be a while before the shed roof was installed, so waterproofing the floor was a high-priority (see below picture).

How to Build Shed Walls

After securing the floor to the foundation, the next step was to frame and erect the walls. I followed the plans carefully and cut all the 2 x 4s to proper lengths.

The large shed floor was a perfect platform to build the wall panels on (you can see I started assembling a wall in the last picture).

After finishing a wall section, I stood it up, carefully aligned it with the edge of the floor, and nailed it into the floor joists.

The 10 ft side panel went up first and was easy to raise and nail by myself. However, I needed some help raising the long 16 ft panel.

It was very heavy and wobbly to work with by myself.

Once in position, I secured it to the floor and then to the 10 ft panel already standing up.

At this point, I thought it would be a good idea to use L brackets to more securely join the two wall panels. So I installed 5 brackets which held the panels very tightly in place. I repeated this technique for the rest of the panel installation.

However, this idea backfired a little later in the project (I’ll get to that when I tell you about installing the exterior siding).

The L brackets were a good idea, but unfortunately not this early in the project.

I finished the panel installation. I installed some temporary supports to the open end of the panels to give some rigidity until more panels were installed (see picture).
The two remaining wall panels took me more time to build, as they were more complicated in design. They had openings for windows and doors, which meant building and installing headers.

Remember how I had purchased 2 separate plans in the beginning of the project? It actually worked well for me.

The second plan (which I was basing my shed off) did not include any windows or a small door frame. However, the first plan (with the overhanging roof) had both of those things.

So I merged the plans to create what I had in mind for my shed.

How to Install Door and Window Headers

Next up in my how to build a storage shed project was installing the door and window headers. During the constructions of the wall panels, I had to install headers above each door and window opening.

When you have a large opening in your wall frame, there is no vertical support there to help bear to load of the roof.

So you have to install a strong beam above the opening to transfer the roof load horizontally and then down the sides of your opening. This beam is called a header.

I built my own headers by nailing 3 layers of wood together. I sandwiched a strip of plywood between two pieces of 2 x 6 and it made a very strong beam.

Here is the shed with all four wall panels up. Not bad for someone teaching himself how to build a storage shed.
Ignore the windows that are mounted in the frame. I will install those later, but I was eager to see what they would look like mounted.

I removed them shortly afterwards to continue construction.
My shed project was really starting to take shape at this point. It looked like a professionally constructed building and I was thrilled!

If you are wondering how to build a storage shed or if it is within your skill set, this tutorial will definitely set you on your way.

The second part of How to Build a Storage Shed is continued here – Shed Project Part 2 (siding and roof).