ZEN AND THE ART OF DIY

How I've learned the hard way every time.

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  • DIY Project – Tree Stump Removal – Part 1

    March 28, 2022

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    DIY, do-it-yourself, landscaping
    axe, stumps, tree-stumps

    I think I mentioned it before that I hate landscaping. I do not like cutting the grass or taking care of anything that grows in dirt.  I like a nice lawn, so I put my focus on that area.  I cut it and weed and feed it.  Occasionally, I will repair it. Efiwym, my wife,…

  • DIY Project – Garage Corner Shelf

    March 21, 2022

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    DIY, do-it-yourself, garage
    do_it-yourself, GARAGE, sears-craftman

    DIY Project – Garage Corner Shelf Efiwym, my wife, and I like having the ability to park both cars in the garage.  We still use it to store some outdoor items.  I have installed shelves for containers of car cleaners, oils, weed killers and home goods, such as paper towels, toilet paper and paper plates.…

  • DIY Project – GFCI – Outside

    March 14, 2022

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    DIY, do-it-yourself, electrical
    gfci

    When I ran underground wire for our front post light, I installed a GFCI box where the wire came out of the house.  The GFCI outlet never worked.  I did some troubleshooting initially, but I could not solve the problem. That was 34 years ago.  Yes, 34 years ago.  I walked by that GFCI for…

  • DIY Project – GFCI – Pinpointing The Problem – Not the Refrigerator

    March 8, 2022

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    DIY, do-it-yourself, electrical, gfci
    gfci

    I think it was over a month before the GFCI tripped again.  You could imagine that things Efiwym, my wife, wanted to say to me.  She had that look on her face that I was so familiar with when she told me the GFCI tripped.  I had spent about $150 trying to solve this problem. …

  • DIY Project – GFCI – Pinpointing The Problem – The Refrigerator

    February 28, 2022

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    DIY, do-it-yourself, electrical, gfci

    Now that I was focused on the GFCI outlet, I needed to see if it indeed was the problem.  I checked the GFCI outlet with a voltmeter.  I noticed that you needed to press the probes deeply into the outlet slots to get the voltmeter to read.  The outlet was over 35 years old, so…

  • DIY Project – GFCI – Charging Our Toothbrushes

    February 21, 2022

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    DIY, do-it-yourself, electrical, gfci

    Several months ago, we had a problem with our cordless toothbrushes.  The batteries would no longer charge.  We had them for several years, so I was not surprised that the batteries were going bad.  I did the normal troubleshooting.  I cleaned the base of the charger and the bottom of the toothbrush and tried to…

  • DIY Project – Painting – Follow-up

    February 14, 2022

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    DIY, do-it-yourself, painting
    oops-paint

    After painting the powder room, Efiwym, my wife, was still not happy with one wall.  Maybe I was going blind, but I was not seeing what she was seeing.  She claimed she could see the old paint coming through the new paint.  Relying on this trite cliche, “Happy wife, happy life,” I repainted the wall.…

  • DIY Project – Painting

    February 8, 2022

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    DIY, do-it-yourself, painting
    oops-paint

    For months my wife, Efiwym, has hinted that she wanted the powder room painted.  She was willing to help with the rolling on the paint, as long as I could cut in the trim.  Since I finished the cabinet doors, I decided it was time to check this item off my “Honey Do” list. I…

  • DIY Project – TV Cabinet – Flat Screen TVs

    January 25, 2022

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    DIY, do-it-yourself, tv-cabinet
    sears-craftman

    We purchased our second 45-inch flat screen TV.  The old one would go into the family room and replace our 26-inch tube TV.  However, the TV could not fit into the TV cabinet.  It would need to sit on the top of it.  The height was too high for viewing purposes, plus it looked weird.…

  • DIY Project – TV Cabinet – Big Powered Equipment

    January 17, 2022

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    DIY, do-it-yourself, power-equipment, tv-cabinet
    powered-equipment

    The following class I brought with me dimensional pine lumber for my project.  I had 1-inch-thick pine for the face frame, sides, drawer, and shelves.  I needed to bring in 5/4-inch stock for the cabinet top.  I would work on the top in a later class. I got my first chance to use the table…

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