Laundry...Norfolk Ghetto Style

I think I've outdone myself this time. I have gone completly ghetto...but when you really need to do some laundry after disconnecting the sewage line, desperate times call for desperate measures. I had water supply which wasn't a problem, but I was having a difficult time trying to figure out where the drainage was going to go. I couldn't put the hose out the window, since the access to my crawl space was directly underneath. So I emptied out one of the trash cans into the mini landfill and brought it inside to act as a temporary water treatment facility.
Wow, a landfill and a water treatment facility. I think I'll put a mini generator on my bike and me and the roommates can take turns pedaling. Then we'll be completly off the utility grid!
Anyway, below are some plans if you ever find yourself in this situation along with somewhat detailed pictures. Another thing that helps is the energy efficient low water useage front load washer with a pause button for when you need to empty out the can mid-load. Make sure the can doesn't have any holes in it either, or else it can turn into a bad day.
And one more quick note. Jack said it was completely red neck what we were doing. Well, I'd like to clarify that what we are doing is completely "ghetto". It depends on the demographic region in which you live whether you're "ghetto" or "redneck" Now if we were a bit more south, or perhaps out in the country, then we would be considered "redneck". Well, that's my opinion anyway.

Last post for the nite

Well, I think I'm pretty much caught up on posts for now. I need to put this one in though.

Let me take you back to just before the kitchen was ripped apart.

We recently had our second class charlie fire. Lucky for us its always in the oven. Guys and ovens just don't seem to mix very well. Jack cooked his phone (see post below), The smoke alarm seems to constantly go off when we cook, but yet I still consider us to be good cooks...for the most part. The first fire was from someone (RAY) leaving a pizza box in the oven and Jack went to go preheat the oven...Then there's the tator tots as seen below, kind of a small fire but smoke alarm still went off. And Jack is still trying to master toasting bagels with the broiler...he always seems to leave the room for a few minutes forgetting about the bagels in turn they turn into charcoal. We'll learn one of these days...

Dinner...Ghetto Style

The skillet and sitting on the floor provides a traditional Japanese Steakhouse atmoshpere

So you ask...

Where does one put all the walls that you've torn down?

A: In the backyard of course!

When its full I'm going to make an ecologically friendly park and call it Mt Trashmore Jr.

For now kids, stay off the landfill unless you've had your tetnus shots.

El Garaje

Project 24 (the garage) is 99% complete, just need some touch ups. Doesn't look too bad. It's amazing how the "popcorn" texture can cover up so many discrepencies. Next time I'll have Jack clean up before taking pictures...

I had a kitchen...

I almost killed myself bringing this cabinet down. It was hanging by one screw that was stripped and wouldn't come out. After several attempts of putting all 160lb of weight into pulling this thing down, it finally gave way unexpectingly. I never knew I could bend backwards so far...I'm taking Yoga now so I can become even more flexible during these intense home improvement sessions.
Reason #147 to turn off an electrical breaker: When you're hanging from a cabinet and it falls and on the way down it smashes the shit out of an outlet.

I think the funnest part of this whole project is coming home after a long day of putting up with B.S. at work and beating the crap out of a wall to relieve your stress. Swing away Jack, Swing Away...

And we swung away some more...


And More...

And then we shoveled...

And shoveled some more...

So now the end of this post. This is my winter project...so much for snowboarding.

Testing the Electrical

I think the pic says it all, but just for those that may not see how this happened> ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS turn off the breaker before attempting to remove a wire from a switch, socket, etc.! Don't worry, I'm still alive. It actually didn't even shock me, but made a hell of mark in the screwdriver.

But let me go back to the begining on this project real quick:
So I was done wiring the garage and needed to test it out...

Step one: Turn on breaker to garage
Step two: Turn on breaker in garage (all systems are go)
Step three: Flip light switch to "on" position
Step Four: Try to figure out why there was a loud pop and all the lights went out in the garage...and my house...and the other houses on my street. Ok, so I didn't kill the whole street, just my house. It was basically some mis-wiring that I looped like 240V back into itself somehow. Remember...I'm not a professional.

Back by popular demand!

...I've been so busy on the house and the Navy that I haven't had anytime to get anything on the blog. But due to several requests, I'm getting back up. A lot has happened since we found our new roommate Bubbles, who as of right now, I fear of meeting up with again everytime I go down to the crawl space. I'm starting with some plumbing and electrical work which means going down more often.
So here's some quick updates:

- The garage is 99% complete, just need to put up an attic access door and do some minor touchups. Jack is now living in there and as soon as he cleans up I'll do a virtual tour. Since it's not really a garage anymore, it's now called El Garaje ( Pronounced "L Ga-Ra-Hey")
- Jonesy left us and went out to sea, he should be back in June or so. Don't worry Jonesy, I'll have plenty of work for ya, I'm raising the roof next summer...I hope.
- I went to open up the kitchen a little bit, but it has just turned into the largest project yet, all because of the electrical. I'm not sure who wired this place, but the kitchen, dining room, living room and a bedroom are all on one 15 amp circuit. Not exactly the wisest thing to do. This in turn led to replacing the electrical. So I figured, hell, the easiest way to do that is to take down the walls. Well one thing led to another and here's where I'm at:
> The kitchen no longer exists in one central place, as the way it does in most homes. The stove is in the living room, cabinets and fridge are in the dining room, the kitchen sink is in the backyard, but not connected so I'm using one of the bathroom sinks. Speaking of the bathroom/kitchen, I was sitting there doing my duty the other day and looked over at the dishrack on the floor with a variety of utensils, plates, etc. and it occured to me that most people would consider it pretty damn gross to wash your dishes in the same room which you deficate in. But what other choice other than the water hose outside do we have?
> The dining room is...well half torn apart, you'd have to see it.
> The living room is actually coming together. I have one more wall to tear down and put some sheetrock up. Much easier to put up the sheetrock in the house, the studs are straighter and more evenly spaced than the ones in the garage. And we were sober putting it up this time.
> I left the bedrooms alone for now.
So anyway, I'll go on to a couple detailed posts with some pictures to amuse you all...