Grandpa Al's Tools

Hey, it's an old house without central air. Most of the time that's not a problem - the high ceilings help and the solid brick exterior and plaster walls provide a enough mass that it takes a while to get hot inside. Problem is once it gets hot it stays hot.

We had a window unit in the master bedroom last summer, but the new storm windows we put in last fall have an opening that's a little narrower than the inner sash. And, as it turns out, it's half an inch narrower than the housing of that window air conditioner...

After some searching, I finally found a new AC unit that would fit. Have you ever noticed that the "facets" feature of most websites doesn't let you narrow your search on the thing you're really interested in?

Of course, the bottom edge of the storm window frame is also higher than the sill, so I had to make a shim so that the AC unit would have the proper tilt. And that particular window sill isn't level, so the shim is half an inch thicker on one end. And the sill is bowed up in the middle... :-)

Thanks to Grandpa Al for all the tools that I used to get the shim perfect...

This One's For You

For all the neighbors who have stopped by and said, "Wow! I didn't know grass would grow here."

Thanks. And this one is for you.

For all those who doubted grass seed would grow here.

Patience grasshopper.

And this one is for you, too. ;-)

Completed Master Bedroom

The master bedroom is finally done! The carpet was installed on Wednesday, meaning all the "construction" is done. The master carpet has a subtle pattern, so we needed to move everything out for the installers. This and the sitting room are the only places where we're doing wall to wall carpet. In this room the fir floor was in decent shape, but at some point someone face nailed with common nails to try to stop the squeaks. Ugh!

Smooth-shanked nails won't stop squeaks.

Common framing nails (with large heads) are the wrong "tool" for finish carpentry work.

It feels good to finally have one room complete. Now I can take some time off (sort of) and "relax"...