Home Improvement: Entryway Steps

Problem: The two steps leading up to the house door in the garage are spaced unevenly. The builders did not take into account the extra 2 inches that the door's threshold and weather striping adds to that top step. There is also much creaking and flexing for some reason.

So this summer's home improvement project was to make each step about 1.5 inches higher, make it more secure (no more creaking) and to make this entryway more inviting. The clutter that accumulates over the years!

Original steps, and the mess

The easiest way would have been to add a 1.5" thick boards to each step, or "tread" as the construction industry calls it. But that would not have helped with the creaking. Time to tear it down to see what I can salvage.

Forgot to take a photo, but the hidden space under the steps was quite disgusting. Spider webs, dust and accumulated dirt unable to be removed in a 15 year old house. The new design definitely has to be fully open to be cleaned.

It turns out the supports (called "risers") were splitting badly and were causing the creaking. Not in any danger of collapse, but better to fix now than later. The treads were still sturdy enough, but that gray paint would have been a pain to strip. Also, natural wood makes for a warmer and more inviting entryway anyway.

Two 2x10 pine boards glued together to make an ultra thick step

Off to the Home Depot down the road and picked up a few lengths of 2x10 boards (actual size is 1.5" x 9.25", NOT 2" x 10") and other supplies. These boards are heavy, and even more so stacked up x2. I used construction glue, applied liberally.

To flatten the front of the 2-board treads, I had to go old-school with a bench plane (brings back memories of secondary school workshop classes!). An electric circular saw would have been much faster but the blade was just a bit too small to cut through 3" in one go. There is a large pile of wood shavings that will be going into the garden compost heap.

Natural wood color deck stain instead of paint

Since the garage is technically outdoors, stain that is used for wooden decks was recommended. Three coats, looks pretty good.

I did salvage some of the old treads after all. They were ideal for the risers. So measure, mark, measure, cut, strip paint, sand, stain and screw into the wall.

Finally, the steps were also screwed down. All done.

Steps and entryway - after

Home Improvement: Sliding Door

Jia Nin's home office also houses her bunnies. On one end, it opens to the kitchen though a narrow doorway (left). The house layout suggests that it was meant to be a formal dining room, so a door would have blocked food service.

The absence of a door allowed bunny fur to migrate into the kitchen. Not too badly since the air return vent for the east side of the house is in the office. Still, the beeps, dings and clatter from the kitchen would be audible to over conference calls and such.

The plan was therefore to install a door. We wanted to match the french doors in the other entry to the room. A regular door that opens in an arc would block the AC control panel and thermostat, as well as reduce the doorway by 4 cm unless we use complex hinges. Also, swinging the door open/close will stir up dust and fur on the ground.

So we decided on sliding doors, in the barn door style. These have metal railings from which the doors hang and open or shut on rollers. The more expensive options were drool-inducing, but wallet sense prevailed, thankfully.

From the sunroom

From the kitchen

A few mistakes were made: My measurements to the vendor were off since the instruction graphics were not specific enough. The steel bars mounting the rollers to the door was too short and therefore the door was hung about 4 cm too high, leaving a larger than desirable gap from the floor. I may have to add a section to the bottom of the door, but it works ok so far. There is supposed to be little guide screwed to the floor that prevents it from swing back and forth, but the extra height means I need to modify it somehow.

I also need to add a rubber-pad to the metal door stop so that the roller doesn't slam too hard against the stop.

Status: 90% done.

Update to Garage Painting Project

Previously, painting the garage.

A long spilt in the paint and joint-compound developed in the ceiling. This is the seam between dry wall panels near the middle of the garage. I should have re-taped the seam entirely instead of patching loose sections.

I will need to look for methods to apply tape and paint in an extreme-temperature, almost-outdoors room like the garage. The wall joints seem to be holding up. So it might just be gravity on top of the bad taping job.

Movies watched 2014

Awesome:
47 Ronin - very well done. Avoids that Hollywood tendency of rewriting the essence of a tale.

Captain America: Winter Soldier
Gravity - great effects, acting, story, pacing; everything!
Guardians of the Galaxy
Gone Girl
St. Vincent - Bill Murray rocks in this one!

Good movie:
Edge of Tomorrow - last act was predictable, otherwise, this would have been awesome
Enders Game - glad I stopped reading the book before watching the movie. That twist in the final battle elevated the movie from OK to pretty-good.

Godzilla - more Godzilla needed!

How to Train your Dragon 2

Lego Movie - everything is awesome....

Need for Speed

Saving Mr. Banks - very endearing tale.

The Equalizer - Denzel is superb

The Wolf of Wall Street - yeah, I'll believe that's what wall street traders do...

The World's End

Thor: Dark World - definitely shows an improving trend in the series

Transcendence

X-Men: Days of Future Past

Just OK:

22 Jump Street - last 5 minutes were the funniest...
Anchorman 2 - quite good in an over-the-top way
Don Jon - not bad

In the World - a bit slow going most of the movie, but the last 30 min was choice.

Jack Ryan - this latest installment in the Jack Ryan franchise is the most boring...
John Wick
Journey to the West -
Lucy - harping on the 10% brain-use thing killed any suspension of disbelief for me. Calling it mutant powers would have been better.
Monuments Men - definitely could have been better
Mr. Peabody and Sherman

Robocop - lacks the rise and fall of the original

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug - this series just doesn't hold my attention; hope the last movie is better

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Maze Runner - another teen death-game

Not worth the seconds spent watching:

A Million Ways to Die in the West

As Above So Below

Divergent
Hercules

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The November Man
Transformers: Age of Extinction - Michael Bay. 'nuff said.

Watching/To watch:
About Time
Snowpiercer
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Nightcrawler - is Jake Gyllenhaal trying to pull off a Pacino? that stare is not cutting it
Interstellar
Big Hero 6
Imitation Game
The Hobbit: Battle of Five Armies
Night at the Museum 3 (for Robin Williams)
Interview
Exodus: Gods and Kings

Home Improvement: Painting the Garage

My home improvement project for 2013 was to paint the interior of our garage. The previous home owner left the walls bare. After ten years, the drywall panels were starting to discolor towards a drab grey; not the most attractive welcome home after a long day at work.

In 2008

I planned a week off from work in July (over the 4th of July holiday) to get it done. This turned out to be wildly optimistic. I spent another 8 weekends to finish! The project took 7 gallons of joint compound, 3 sanding blocks, 4 dust masks, 7 gallons of primer/paint in 2 coats, 2 paint rollers, 3 paint brushes, and 3 paint-splattered t-shirts.

Final weekend - almost done

Before bringing the cars back into their home, I took the opportunity to reorganize the ton of gardening tools and supplies that had been stuffed onto various shelves and bins over the years. By now, we know what tools are needed each season, so the layout is in much better order.

Next project: landscaping a section of the backyard under 3 tall trees that suck out water and nutrients from the soil, leaving the lawn bare and overgrown with weeds.

Movie/TV Roundup 2013

2013 had many movies that I really, really wanted to catch. Time just wasn't on my side this year.

Excellent:
Pacific Rim
Iron Man 3
Now You See Me

Star Trek Into Darkness

Despicable Me 2

Monsters University

Argo (2012)

Not Bad:

Odd Thomas
Kick-Ass 2

Life of Pi (2012)

The Wolverine
White House Down

World War Z 

Indifferent:
2 Guns
Cloud Atlas (2012)
Curse of Chucky
Elysium
Escape from Planet Earth
Fast & Furious 6
Jack Reacher (2012)
Riddick
Rise of the Guardians (2012)
The Last Stand
Turbo
Warm Bodies

Didn't hold my attention; but I plan to finish:
G.I. Joe: Retaliation

Oblivion

Man of Steel

Red 2

Waste my time:

A Good Day to Die Hard

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters 

Jack the Giant Slayer 

Pain & Gain
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

Oz the Great and Powerful

R.I.P.D.

Red Dawn (2012)
The Host
The Lone Ranger
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

Queued to [must] watch:
47 Ronin
About Time
Ender's Game

Frozen
Gravity
Saving Mr. Banks

The Butler
The Wolf of Wall Street
The World's End
Thor: Dark World

Queued to [maybe] watch:
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2
Don Jon
Epic
Captain Phillips
The Great Gatsby
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

TV was a huge time-sink with many promising new shows, and final seasons of really excellent shows. Definitely binge watching in batches whenever I can. 1.5x and 2x speeds without pitch shift is a wonderful feature on VLC player :-)

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - new; so far so good
Almost Human - new; so far so good
Alpha House - new; slowed down a bit mid-season, hoping it picks back up
Boardwalk Empire - going strong
Breaking Bad - ended with best wrap-up in recent memory!
Castle - still going strong
Continuum - get that story arc moving, may drop
Dexter - ended; meh
Doctor Who - excellent 50th anniversary features and extras!
Elementary - can't really hold a candle to the BBC's Sherlock, may drop
Game of Thrones - going strong
Homeland - what a twist
House of Cards - Kevin Spacey nailed it!
Misfits - powers of new cast suck; may drop
Orange is the New Black - hope season 2 doesn't drop into a rut
Person of Interest - cast is getting a bit unwieldy
Sons of Anarchy - meh; may drop
Spartacus: War of the Damned - ended; feel a bit guilty watching this one, not much story but plenty of violence and nudity
The Blacklist - new; writing story arc checks that it might not be able to cash
The Crazy Ones - new; Robin Williams is hilarious
The Good Wife - holding on despite the excessive inter-personal drama
The Mentalist - finally, Red John is dead! time to move on
The Newsroom - flashback format; hate that; hope season three avoids this
Sherlock - and he's back!
True Blood - less talk, more action needed

Dropped:
Brooklyn Nine-Nine - not getting the laughs after third episode
House of Lies - bogged down, angsty
Suits - gotten too soapy
The Walking Dead - comics are so much better
Touch - yawn
White Collar - gotten predictable