New Front Steps

My most recent task has been to refresh our front step.  The postal carrier broke a step last fall, and she is not a big lady. The paint was chipping off and the rails were so rotten, the only thing keeping me from ripping them off with one hand was my wife.  Here's a shot of the old steps:

  One look at these and it's not hard to tell which was the broken step last fall.  Now this was a constant thorn in my side. Everytime I would drive to or from the house I would be reminded that the house and I had unfinished business.  That all came to an end on Wednesday (Thursday and some time this past Wednesday)  after Easter.  I bought the wood at the local harware store (yes I purchased something at a store besides screws, sorry guys) and got ready for my trusty Assistant Angus (my father in law) . 

Angus is a hard working man, who despite his being 62 years young, is very active and reliable for home reno projects. Possibly as important as a keen ability to construct new things, is a reliable assistant.  No complaints, just work.  Great guy to have  around.  Especially when you want to curse yourself out for doing something dumb.  (My sister in law always calls his saying Angusisms, kind of like S%&#$ my dad says stuff, only way funnier) 

Now look at the step, nowback to my blog, now look at the step, you get the idea.  Here's where the fun really started.  I began tearing out the old step the day before Angus arrived so we could get to work right away.  Began!  My, still very new, daughter decided to wake up before I finished and she is too cute to ignore.  The old one came off like I was tearing wet cardboard.

Here is what was left of the old one:

I couldn't believe a man of my size wasn't breaking these steps. (I'm not as svelt as I once was)  The really awesome thing though (and why these paid for steps made the No Budget blog)  is that the base of the original step was actually pressure treated wood.  Too bad the old owners had built to sell and not to last.  the rest of the step was built from crap wood.  I wouldn't have had this project to do I suppose.  Me being the frugal (skin flint) I am, decided to leave the frame alone so I could cash in some savings. That Pepsi case in the background held the joist brackets I scavanged on a trip to my mothers a few weeks early when I needed a drill to install a new storm door. (We don't get to blog about that one. Although...)  The brackets were left overs from a deck dad and I built years ago I think. 

SO we shored up what was left and started adding some risers.  Now I'm no contractor, (or this blog wouldn't be cool) but I sure do pretend I'm one when people ask me about my ability. :) Angus and I got everything together lickety split. Right after a well timed rain delay. (Even mother nature was watching us work our magic.) 

We were able to get the steps on and reinforced with little problem. Well other than the second trip to the harward store. I will explain later.  The next ordeal was the decking.  I had bought 5/4 x 6. This is not the traditional stuff I was use to, but it looked so dam good in the flyer.  I never thought of how I would get the board around the 4x4 posts to look finished.  I am going to make mistakes.  I guess you get what you pay for. 

The steps work vey well. You can climb them and you don't have to worry about falling anymore.  (I'm sure I will get a present from the postal lady at Christmas now. ) The rails took me a few more days.  I didn't have the 2x4's I needed.  That brings me to my self bashing part of my story.  When I went to the lumber yard, I ordered my 5/4x6 and my 4x4's along with other necessary items.  I thought what I was getting also included my 2x2 for the railing.  I didn't look at the wood until I took it out of the truck at home.  I had priced the 2x2's at a competitor.  At this comptitor, the 2x2's came in one size.  Well, at the lumber yard I bought the 2x2's at, they came in 8 ft lengths.  SO I had ordered 30 8 ft 2x2's.  Now for those of you doing math on a 32 inch railing.  30 8 ft 2x2's would do the railing for my step, my deck and my nieghbours steps on both sides.  Oh well, that's why they take returns.  "Always budget more wood than you think you'll need," Dad use to say.

Here is the finished product:

Yeah it's done.  I think I prefer making things out of scrap wood. Less stress about making a mistake.  If you have to scrap a scrap project, what are you out?  I hope you enjoyed this entry.  This is the one that cost some dough, but I saved as much as I could by reusing a ton of stuff from the original and those brackets from Mom's. Happy Mother's day by the way Mom!

Until next time, Payless is more than just a shoe store; it's how some jobs get done.

Poker Table

Buying a house is a big move! 

Buying a house with so much spare wood just sitting waiting to become a poker table was a great move.  Seeing all of that uncut lumber sitting on a shelf was an unbelievable stroke of luck.  

My wife and I bought the house and had very little furniture.  One room in the basement had absolutely nothing to go in it, so I (of course) claimed it to be my man cave. (Chest Thump) "What will I put in my man cave?" I thought. My buddies and I play a lot of cards, I should get a poker table.  

"Where will I get a poker table for no money?" 

"I just bought a house all my money bought furniture and appliances."

"Hrmph!"  I had to find a way.  (Wander into the storage room looking for a hammer to finish another project.)  

"Hey, I think I'm going to build a poker table out of all of this spare wood. It's no good for anything else!"

"As long as you finish putting up the new baseboard first!" I heard a caring, thoughtful and quiet voice from the laundry room say. My wife, luckily, lets me start lots of projects. She is a great motivator to get them finished too!

That's how I got my start.  Now my task was to figure out how the new table could look. I needed a piece of paper. Where oh where did we pack the paper away?  Once drawn I sprung into action. (After finishing the baseboard of course.) I worked away in the storage room, making quite a mess with the sawdust.   I am no carpenter, so the going was pretty slow to start.  I found some 2x2's and there was some plywood screwed to the wall in the storage room.  I figured that would make a good base.  I quietly unscrewed it from the wall, as not to arouse suspicion from upstairs and went to find where I packed my circular saw.

As the base began to take shape, I started thinking how smart I was for having figured out what to do with all of this extra wood.  I had gotten pretty absorbed in my little project by the time I started connecting the table top.  It was just then that I realized, "Oh, I wont be able to get this out of the storage room if I fasten the top on first."  I had to rethink my strategy for getting that table top on to the base.   

I got the whole thing assembled in the MAN CAVE, and brought in a couple of chairs from the kitchen to test out my creation. It wasn't until I wanted to put away my poker chips behind what I felt were pretty fancy doors, that I realized, "Oops, there aren't any handles on these doors."  I chuckled to myself loudly as I started unscrewing the handles on one of the bi-fold doors I had just replaced.  "It's a good thing I didn't listen to my wife and sell these old doors on Kijiji yet," I thought.  Justification for my procrastination is always appreciated in times like these.  

Now my table was complete.  All I needed was some chairs that the guys could sit on. The kitchen chairs would quickly be destroyed by some of my less respectful friends.  Luckily I had a gift card someone had brought by as a house warming gift a few weeks earlier so I headed off to Canadian Tire to get some cheap folding chairs.  Something I could easily replace if someone had a few too many pops and tipped the chair backwards hilariously.

As you will see from the pictures of the table, the finished product looks far from the pile of seemingly useless left behind wood. The guys were equally appreciative of my work when I hosted the next round of poker.  The least they could have done was let me win one game since I had worked so hard on my table.  

I hope this tale inspired you to get to work on a project at home.  If you are looking for any tips, send me a picture of your materials and I'll help you brainstorm.  Have a similar story of junk recovery heroism?  Send it along too. I would gladly post it here to inspire others.  Include a funny summary of your project and some pics if possible.  Until next time, Payless is more than just a shoe store; it's how some jobs get done.

Zero dollar explanation

When your spouse goes on maternity leave, your budget for home improvement goes way down.  Call me cheap (I prefer frugal), but I've always tried to re purpose left over materials whenever I could. (Who am I kidding of course I'm cheap),  Seeing a pile of pre-loved wood or metal sends my imagination into over drive.  So when I bought a house in 2009 that contained plenty of spare parts in the storage room, lets just say my wife had to remind me that just because I want to build something, doesn't mean we need that particular something.

My zeal for starting projects has gotten me into trouble in the past. "When are you going to finish the bathroom steps?" I will tell you about the jobs I finished. "What fun would finishing everything be. I wouldn't have anything to do!" This blog will chronicle my builds, with emphasis on each projects budget.  My objective is always a zero dollar project.  Hopefully the things I build inspire you to think more about creativity and less about money. 

W A R N I N G ! ! 

The following blog entries may tempt the The No Budget Handyman in you.

I take no responsibility for marital trouble caused by unfinished projects. 

I do take responsibility for the enjoyment and self satisfaction you receive from completing something for little or no cost.  Remember to always finish enough projects that you are allowed to keep following along.

I will introduce you to my poker table, new front steps, storage room shelving, and a fire pit. So far only one of the projects has required money to leave my pocket for anything bigger than a bag of screws.  (Sometimes you need to keep your spouse appeased with something shiny and new to keep working on the cheap!) The trick is, to see if you can guess which one was paid for.

Feel free to email your ideas for projects to test my construction frugality.  I appreciate comments.  Soon I will have links to the pictures of my projects on my website.  Stay tuned!