The Masters House

I debated when to post this or not because it is kind of a ghetto solution but man – it really works.

Our garage gets really hot during the summer so we would leave the garage door open a little bit to try to let the hot air out. This was better then leaving it closed but it still would get really hot since there was nothing to circulate the air. The garage also has the only access to the attic of the house.

I planned on getting a “real” attic fan sometime this year but then the weather go to hot so it was too hot to do it. The attic fan that I was planning on installing is the one that has a temperature sensor that turns the fan on when it gets hot. Anyway, it is too hot now to put one in the attic and plus the can be a little pricey (in the $100-$150 price range if I am not mistaken) compared to the solution I found.

About a month ago I was moving stuff around in the garage and came across a $10 box fan that I had bought from Walmart. My plan was to suspend the fan from the ceiling to circulate the air in the garage to hopefully cool it down.

As I was making preparations to hang it I noticed that that the height of the fan looked really close to the the width of the opening to the attic. I grabbed the ladder to check it out and sure enough the fan was the perfect fit! In addition the cord was just long enough to reach over to the second outlet in the ceiling that was for the garage door opener.

After making sure that the fan was secure I flipped it on high to make sure that it would not vibrate or wobble out of place. Then I closed the garage door so that it was open a couple of inches on the bottom to test it out. I came back an hour later and the garage was a whole lot cooler! For $10 I had myself an attic fan.

My theory is that this should help to cool the rest of the house also as the fan is sucking air from the outside that is then being pushed into the attic. I am not usually home during the day but my wife says that she can tell the difference in the house and that the air conditioner does not seem to come on as much. I guess the true test will be when I get my electric bill this month.

Anyway, I thought that I would share this since it is such a cheap solution that has the potential to save some money.

Technorati: Home Improvement, Attic, Attic Fan, DIY, Air Conditioning, Garage

Over the weekend the wife and I went mattress hunting for a King size replacement for our Queen size Serta mattress.

The main reason for the new mattress was that we have both been have back problems from the mattress sagging in the middle. This was really disappointing since the mattress was only 4 years old. It may have been due to the fact that it had pillow soft on both sides but regardless – we needed a new one.

This time around we wanted a King size so that when when one of the kids decides that they want to sleep with us instead of in their room then we can all fit comfortably in the bed.

We ended up settling for a Sealy mattress and paid more then I wanted for it (don’t you always pay more then you want for these type of things?). The nice part about it was that it was delivered the same day so we were able to get a good night sleep. Read the rest of this entry »

My search for the correct bulbs for my son’s ceiling fan has ended – at Ikea. I wish I would have checked out their assortment of bulbs a long time ago as they have a lot.

I was looking specifically for candelabra bulbs and they had 3 different types/wattages to choose from. I ended up choosing what they consider to be 30 watt equivalents.

The color of the light is more of a yellow or natural color as opposed to the bright white of the other lights. Needless to say I took the other bulbs back to Walmart.

I will definitely be checking out Ikea in the future for fluorescent bulbs.

Technorati tags: CFL bulbs, Fluorescent Bulbs, Saving Energy, Ceiling Fan, Home Improvement, DIY

Well I went to 2 Home Depots and a Lowes yesterday and did not find the candelabra fluorescent bulbs that I am looking for. As a recap I bought some that give out a sickly white light that I really do not like. What I am trying to find are some bulbs that give out a more natural yellow light like the rest of the fluorescent bulbs I bought.

The guy at the first Home Depot said that they had not had any for weeks and did not know when they would get some in. The lady at the second Home Depot had some but they were 15 watt bulbs (I need at least 40 watts). The did have some 40 watt bulbs at Lowes but they looked as though they would give the same light as the ones from Walmart.

I am going to check out Ikea tonight to see if the bulbs they have there give out a better light. I have already seen the bulbs there but recall them being pretty expensive. Cost at this point is not as much of an issue as just getting a more natural color for the bulbs.

It is weird how I am obsessing over this but for me it is a big deal. The reason it is a big deal is that this is my son’s room that probably has the lights on more then any other room in the house. I really do not want 160 watts burning for 4-6 hours a day when I can have 27 watts burning with fluorescents instead.

We will see what Ikea turns up and if the lights aren’t looking that good then I guess I might try the ones at Lowes.

Technorati tags: CFL bulbs, Fluorescent Bulbs, Saving Evergy, Ceiling Fan, Home Improvement, DIY

Well I finally took the time to make the template to drill the holes for the knobs for our kitchen cabinets.

My first template was from some scrap pieces of wood and ended up not putting the hole in the same place each time. It was a good thing that I tested it out in out bathroom first as opposed to the kitchen.

This time around I went and bought a straight and square piece of wood and took my time to figure out what would work best to make sure it would be straight each time. I ended up making it to where the template sandwiches the cabinet door tightly so it is in the same place each time.

It just happened to work out that the cabinet doors were the same thickness of the wood that I was using so I could get the size of the gap the right size. I just clamped all 3 pieces of wood together in my vise and then screwed the sides on. This made sure that everything was nice and square.

As you can see it came out nice.

The best part about it is that all I had to do was make the template and make sure that it worked properly. My wife and my father-in-law are the ones that actually used it to put the knobs of .

Well another day, another project. It is sure nice to finally have the garage organized so that when I need to do these things I can get them done quickly.

You can see more pictures of the template here.

Technorati tags: Home Improvement, Carpentry, Kitchen Cabinets, Cabinet Knobs, DIY

My wife really like it during December because we had the Christmas lights on during the evening and that gave a little more light outside around the house. After I took them down she requested that I turn on the regular outside lights because it just made here feel safer to have the lights on and it made the house look nicer.

I was hesitant at first to do this because there are three light fixtures outside that are all connected to the same switch – 2 on the porch and one near the garage. The two light fixtures on the porch had 2 60 watt bulbs each and the one by the garage had one. Together this was 300 watts that would be burning all night. The other thing was that we would forget to turn the Christmas lights off before going to bed sometimes so they would stay on all night. On time they stayed on all night and the next day. That is not good for the electric bill.

It was time for a trip to Home Depot. Read the rest of this entry »

Well it happened about 2 weeks ago but I finally crawled up into the attic to finish the electrical for the new room/hallway. It wasn’t completely uneventful as I sliced my finger pretty good and the lights didn’t work the first time flipped the switch. I learned valuable lesson is both incidents.

In the first incident I was in the attic getting ready to slice together two wires in a junction box and was cutting the sheathing off on of the wires. I was holding the wires with me left hand and cutting with my right hand.

When I was almost at the end of the cut the knife slipped and sliced across my pink on my left hand. It started bleeding right away. I quickly yet calmly made my way out of the attic while sucking on my finger. Read the rest of this entry »

So this weekend we did the final sanding, texture, and painting of the new wall that has turned our former formal dinning room to a 5th bedroom. It is now at a state that my brother and law has moved into it.

Things that still need to be done are:

• Hook up electrical and cable outlets
• Paint shelving area
• Install and paint base boards and trim around the door.
• Texture and paint the wall around the door on the kitchen side

All-in-all the project came out better the I would have hoped. I owe a big thanks to my wife, her dad, and her brother as I would not have been able to get it to this pint without them.

Pictures will be coming shortly!

Technorati: Home Improvement, DIY, Construction

Elsy just posted early today about sinks for your kitchen and here I go about faucets for your bathroom. As much as a new sink will give your kitchen or bathroom a new look you can’t just put any faucet on it. You need to put one that is going to accent the sink and enhance it.

Therefore to find a related resource to go with your new sink I found Taps4Less.com. At Taps 4 Less they have many kitchen faucets and bathroom faucets that have a nice Euro look to them. Seeing what they have to offer reminds me of that Moen commercial where the blind guy goes into the restroom and tells the girl that she should see it for her self. These designs could definitely make the difference in your bathroom.

Technorati: Kitchen Faucets, Bathroom Faucets, Taps, Home Improvement, DIY

Well construction has begun on converting our unused formal dining room into a bedroom for our youngest son. This project is composed of installing a door in the entry way between the kitchen and the room and sealing off the entrance to the room from the entry way hall way. This wall is about 11 feet wide.

I have already installed the door but still need to do the drywall on the sides and above it. I am planning on doing the wall in the coming weeks and am accumulating the tools and materials that I need for it. This includes my new half price 1/2″ hammer drill. Cool…

Pics to come soon.

Technorati: Home Improvement, Construction, DIY, Home Remodeling