another year, another new door color

Rachel convinced me that our red door wasn't working for us. She picked some bright blue from the Martha Stewart Home Depot paint lineup and I repainted it. Gave it a light sanding to remove some of the old paint drips, and some bondo to patch some dings and dents in the wood. Found it easiest to use a weenie roller on the flat front sections and a 2" brush for all of the edges. Let it dry all day with the door open (letting in all of the Sacramento summer).

Then replaced the old tired and worn hardware with a new handle and deadbolt from Emigh hardware. The Ace brand was much cheaper than the equivalent Schlage or Kwikset.

Red door

In the days before the family arrived for Thanksgiving, I got around to painting the front door. Our black door was beat up, and the handle had seen better days.

Here's a before of the handle:

After painting it Hammered Oil Rubbed Bronze: 

We had bought this brass pineapple awhile ago, like months and months ago. Apparently pineapples are welcoming. 

Anyway, here she is all done: 

Outdoor plumbing

On the side of our house, we have these pipes that leaked like crazy. Also, for some reason, the pipe comes up 4 feet then goes back down. Not sure why, perhaps it was so an old person could turn the water on and off without having to bend over? No idea.

I had re-wrapped the pipe in insulation last winter when we had the freezing temps because those pipes are just asking to freeze.

Was going to call a plumber, then decided to tackle it myself. An hour and a half later and it looked like this:

Used brass fittings ---- about every little piece in that photo cost over $10, so total price was around $80 and sore hands! But cheaper than a plumber.

When will it be in stock?

I think this is the year we get patio furniture!

Except, when will it be in stock? http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S39898474/

Good news/Bad news

I went outside this morning and got some good news and bad news:

The good news is that the french drain is definitely working. This is the sump pit which is a garbage can buried in the ground with the french drain perforated pipe flowing into it. 

I did have some concerns that perhaps the french drain wasn't draining into the sump pit and that the reason the french has worked thus far, is just because there is now a gravel trough that runs the length of the yard and that trough was holding the rain runoff. Now, it's fairly obvious that the drain is working well. 

The bad news is that because the sump pit is fully filled, water isn't draining in the trouble areas of the yard so that this is happening: 

Rachel's Grandpa had given us a sump pump and it worked, but not great when I first tried it. It seemed that perhaps the 1/3 horsepower wasn't enough to push water through the 4 foot hose I had connected to it. This morning, I hooked the pump up to a 50 foot hose with no expectations. I need to pump the water out to the front yard so that it can drain into the gutter. 

Luckily, the sump pump worked! Perhaps it was the hose I was using before? No idea. Hopefully, now that I am pumping the water out of the sump pit, the standing water in the yard will drain into it and we'll have a dry yard again. 

it rained

Those photos are from a year ago, prior to the french drain, that now runs along the side of the backyard and empties into a buried garbage can.

After last week's rain, we had no standing water in the backyard! Good to know that my back breaking sweat equity actually worked.

Rain control

We have a downspout in our backyard that pours right onto the brick patio. I've tried hooking up extender tubes to escort the water off the brick and into the yard. This has worked but only marginally, it either gets kicked or blown by the wind and detaches from the downspout.

Last weekend, in preparation for the rain, I executed a plan I had thought up a few months ago ---- buy a narrow garbage can and have the downspout pour into it instead. So I bought this "slim jim" 23 gallon can from Home Depot:

The problem is, with the heavy rain, it was filling up in about 3 hours. Dragging the can 10 feet to dump it out into the garden/lawn was difficult and a pain. This was finally realized when I went to empty it before work, dressed in work clothes and the darn thing fell over creating a small 23 gallon typhoon of water getting me wet.

So, to solve this, I drilled a hole in the lower side of the can, installed a ball valve hose bib. A standard hose bib fits a 1" hole pretty well. With some silicone, washers and a nut on the back side, the drain valve seems pretty sturdy.

Next, I took some old hose, and made a new hose out of with a replacement hose attachment:

Now, the slim jim can collect 23 gallons of water, and I can then turn the valve and pump the water anywhere within 15 feet. 

In the future, I'll build a more decorative box around the garbage can. And, when it's not rainy season, I'll disconnect the hose and store in the shed.

The chimney cap

Just following up on a previous post about painting the chimney cover....here it is in all it's new found glory:

A lot better than this:

The eyesore on the block?

Could have easily been this piece of plywood on the side of our garage which greets our neighbors every time they step out their front door.

Shutters on each side of the window that appears to be looking out onto a bird on a limb.

The assumption was that this must be covering something hideous, so hideous that an ugly faded fake window into our garage where apparently there is a bird perched is a better option.

Continuing this assumption, I was thinking it was a window at some point and I'd need to tear it down and get new siding to cover up the old slot.

It took about 90 minutes to remove the 50 screws (maybe 18, but still overkill) and unveil a perfectly good (if not dirty) wall!

Rejoice!

I was expecting neighbors from all around to walk out of their houses doing a slow clap.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM0dbwDc2FE