New window

On Saturday and Sunday the 25th and 26th of July (2009), my dad and I replaced the window in my bedroom. I learned what it takes to remove an old window, as well as how to install a new one (along with all the interesting things you might discover when the old one is removed). We also had to re-do some drywall on the inside wall, and re-locate an electrical outlet. In addition to cutting drywall and re-locating some electrical (two things I am at least familiar with), I learned to tape drywall after it is hung.

Over the last 2 days, I helped Don out in his barn again. This time, the work was mostly cutting and hanging drywall. I learned how to precisely cut drywall, using a utility knife. I was also able to cut out a piece of drywall for the ceiling, which involved cutting a hole for a can light. I think that was probably the most impressive thing I did all day, if I do say so myself...

I learned something important yesterday - you have to respect high-torque drill motors. I was using a hole saw to cut an opening for a moisture vent from the bathroom, and let me tell you, when the bit suddenly stops spinning (bites), your wrists don't like it at all. If Don hadn't warned me and I didn't know any better, I would have snapped my wrist. 

Over these two days, I learned a lot about drywall. But most importantly, I learned that I enjoy the work. I like to cut the drywall (and, occasionally, attempt to hang it). I'm sure it's easier and harder depending on the job situation, but I liked it. And if you like to do something, you'll eventually be really good at it, right?

Bathrooms are hard work

Yesterday, I worked again with my friend Don, at his house. He is converting the second story of his barn into a small rental home. I helped him get started on the bathroom.

First, we made cuts in the concrete where pipes need to be installed for a toilet, a hot water tank, sink, etc.


Next, framing went up around it. One of Don's good carpenter friends framed the room while he, Don or I cut studs to the right size so he could put them up. Here is a photo of the framed bathroom, looking at it from behind the back wall (You can sorta see the cuts we made there in the floor, where the toilet and stuff are going to be).


Next was the most difficult - breaking up the concrete. Don and I would take turns with his jackhammer, while whoever wasn't using it was shoveling it out. I must admit, this was kind of fun, for about 2 minutes. Here is a picture of most of the concrete we broke up, all ready for the pipes to be laid in.

Enhancing the Garden

Yesterday, I spent most of the day working on our garden area. My dad and I cut and framed 2 raised beds. Then, later in the day we built the frame for a green house. Here are some pictures.

A decorative angle cut that my dad taught me to do using the skill saw at a 45 degree angle.

One of the raised beds in all its splendor!

Bringin' the heat

I learned about how to connect a small box heater to its power source when Don and I installed 3 of them in a large basement today in Bothell. Apparently, this is one of his easier jobs, but it required some skills that I have yet to perfect. We had to bring wire from the main panel out to three locations, which included cutting some drywall and being able to snake wire through the inside of the wall and the insulation it contained, drilling holes through studs for the wire, and a few other nifty tricks. Stay tuned!

September 18, 2008

Day 2 of 2 working at Jon's house is now over. So today, we connected the wire from the main panel in the garage to a service disconnect behind the tea house. Then, made a second route over by the fireplace and installed a new panel there. Sorry, I don't have any pictures this time because I forgot my camera. New things I learned! 1) You can distinguish the ground wire from all the others because it is usually the smallest. And it is often left uncovered so it's more obvious (that is, when it is in an extra outside coating with other wires). 2) Square D is a brand of electrical equipment that is usually extremely overpriced, but has about the same quality as GE (General Electric). It's sort of like the Monster cable manufacturer...
3) According to the code, when bringing electricity to a new building, you can't go bring the wire out more than 15 feet from the source. 4) It is also against the code to tie the end of an extension cord and the end of a power tool's cord together (if the tool gets out of hand, they want it to be easy to remove power from it.

I've definitely learned a lot more than this, but I think that's all for now!

Wire, soap and conduits

Today I went to Queen Anne to work at someone's house with Don, the electrical guy I mentioned before. John, the homeowner, is building a Tea House in the upper part of his property, and he needs electricity in it! So what ended up taking most of the day was just getting all the wiring through conduits from the garage where the main circuit breaker is (above), all the way up to the tea house. This included running the wire through a number of unnecessary J(junction?)-Boxes. And every time we got to a gap where there's a junction box or the conduit ends, we had to pull the wire all the way out and then put the end into the next conduit.
The work mostly comprised of me feeding the wires through to the tube, and Don pulling at the other end (we switched off every so often but he was obviously a better puller than I). Every so often, I squirted a little bit of "soap" (basically a lubrication to help ease the wires through) onto the wire before passing it through the tube. As you can see, the top left conduits in the 2 upper of the 3 pictures feature the fish tape, a metal wire that we hook onto the end of the group of electrical wiring to pull it through (obviously our hands aren't that long or skinny!).

I'd say that for my first day working on electrical, I learned quite a bit!