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ZEN AND THE ART OF DIY

How I've learned the hard way every time.

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  • DIY Project – Installing Engineered Hardwood Flooring – The Living & Dining Rooms – The Beginning

    February 1, 2021

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    DIY, do-it-yourself, hardwood floor
    OSB, random pattern, underlayment

    I waited at least another year before I tackled the flooring for the living and dining room.  This project would disrupt the household as it would push us out of our space.  Also, the project would take longer because I would need to complete 2 rooms at the same time. Initially Efiwym and I were…

  • DIY Project – Installing Engineered Hardwood Flooring – The Family Room – The Second Half

    January 29, 2021

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    DIY, do-it-yourself, hardwood floor
    knee pads

    Now that I was about half done laying the floor, Efiwym and I had to move the furniture over to the finished side of the room.  Efiwym applied felt pads on the furniture so we could put the couches and tables on the floor.  I also needed to move the left over flooring. The remaining…

  • DIY Project – Installing Engineered Hardwood Flooring – The Family Room – First Half

    January 25, 2021

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    DIY, do-it-yourself, hardwood floor
    click and lock, engineered hardwood floor, random pattern

    I rolled out the least expensive plastic underlayment I could buy, and carefully attached each row with red sheathing tape.  I started from the dinette side and would finish by the fireplace on the other end.  Since it was a sunken family room, I had a straight wall to start with.  Using plastic shims to…

  • DIY Project – Installing Engineered Hardwood Flooring – The Family Room – Preparation

    January 18, 2021

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    DIY, do-it-yourself, hardwood floor

    We normally do not use the family room, which is strange.  There is a fireplace, ceiling fan and a patio door to view our backyard.  Maybe because we used the dining room as a playroom for the grandkids, we utilize the living room as our gathering place.  No formal spaces in our house. We wanted…

  • DIY Project – Installing Engineered Hardwood Flooring – My First Time

    January 13, 2021

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    Uncategorized

    Many years ago, when engineered hardwood flooring was a fairly new option for wood flooring, I used it to replace the vinyl flooring in our kitchen, dinette, and foyer.  It was 3/8-inch-thick and had a thin layer of pre-finished oak veneer and a plywood base.  This wood flooring had to be glued down.  The manufacturer…

  • DIY Project – Installing an Above Ground Swimming Pool – The Demolition

    January 7, 2021

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    deck, DIY, do-it-yourself, swimming-pool
    demolition, marco polo

    To be clique, all good things must come to an end.  After 25 years, I was tiring of the annual start up and shut down of the pool.  Cleaning the pool was a chore.  Nobody was using it so cleaning of the pool was done occasionally resulting in more time.  The kids were no longer…

  • DIY Project – Installing an Above Ground Swimming Pool – Solar Cover

    December 14, 2020

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    deck, DIY, do-it-yourself

    We bought our share of solar covers.  Since we had a 16 foot by 32-foot oval pool, I always needed to trim the cover.  Some came as a 16 foot by 32-foot rectangular shape.  Others came as ovals but did not fit the shape of the pool. We depended on the sun to heat our…

  • DIY Project – Installing an Above Ground Swimming Pool – The Pool Decking – The Gate

    December 8, 2020

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    deck, DIY, do-it-yourself, swimming-pool
    gate

    Like the railings, the gate would be made of 2 x 4 rails and stiles and 2 x 2 balusters.  How the gate would operate was the issue.  I did not want anything on the pool deck to help with the gate that would cause toes to be stubbed.  I thought about a sliding gate,…

  • DIY Project – Installing an Above Ground Swimming Pool – The Pool Decking – Part 2

    December 4, 2020

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    deck, DIY, do-it-yourself, swimming-pool
    black_and_decker, gfci, railing

    I continued my work on the pool deck.  I now would start on the filter side of the pool deck.  Things went fairly well.  I designed and built a hatch opening to get at the filter skimmer cover.  The filter itself would be placed on a concrete pad outside the deck.  I planned on building…

  • DIY Project – Installing an Above Ground Swimming Pool – The Pool Decking – Part 1

    November 16, 2020

    ZENANDTHEARTOFDIY

    deck, DIY, do-it-yourself, swimming-pool

    Using pressure-treated deck boards was the most cost-effective way at that time.  There were some man-made products on the market, but they were very costly.  Now you can find a variety of types and colors of decking at your home improvement stores for a decent price.  I was not going to use the one-inch thick…

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