August 24th 2013: Building a rain barrel and stand!

In our town (Windham, NH), we have a community well.  This is sort of like having city water - except you pay more because we have many of the same costs without the population to dilute the cost of a large city.

To save money and conserve water, I decided that we needed a rain barrel.  I did some research online looking at commercial options and I didn't care for some design elements (ex. why have the faucet a foot from the bottom of the barrel?) and I didn't really like the costs at all.  The homemade versions seemed like a better value (like this one [link below] from Better Homes & Gardens) which I could build with better materials the way that I wanted (vs. commercial):
http://www.bhg.com/gardening/yard/tools/make-a-rain-barrel-save-water/#page=1

The other thing that I noticed is that many people will buy a rain barrel or build one and then precariously balance the very heavy barrel on a cinder block or stack of bricks or something equally unstable which seemed like a safety hazard to me (especially with young kids).  With my own rain barrel stand, I could put the faucet very low on the barrel to maximize the water that comes out and have a much safer + more stable platform, as well.

OK, here's my version:

You need a few parts which are available from a big orange hardware store.
1/2" Faucet Rosette Washer + Nut
Male No-Kink Hose Bibb (aka faucet)
Rubber O-rings to fit the "bibb"
Silicone sealant
Screen or landscape fabric
Drill + large bits (big enough to fit the "bibb")
Barrel

The "Male No-Kink Hose Bibb" has a bit of angle to which you attach the hose which appealed to me.  I'm not sure if this will really make it "no-kink", but a little bit of an angle seemed like a good idea (vs. straight down to the ground).  For my first rain barrel, I don't plan to attach a hose - it's just going to be for filling a watering can so the "no-kink" is less of a concern for me.

The really neat part of this system is the Faucet Rossette Washer + Nut sink repair kit.  This little guy screws together which helps seat the faucet + the o-rings into the barrel and leaves very little work for the silicone to do (in terms of holding back water and preventing unwanted leakage).

And, of course, you'll need a barrel + drill.  You could use any old barrel, but I chose the Rubbermaid Brute 32-gallon because it's made of thicker plastic.  For some unknown reason, most of the Brute trash barrels are sold without a lid, so you'll need to buy a lid anyway....and you might as well buy a flat lid.  I also liked the smaller 32-gallon size which will be plenty for my needs.

In terms of the stand, I took two, 4x4x8 PT posts, cut them in half, sunk 2' of the 4' posts into post holes that I dug with a post-hole digger, then built a 2x4 platform for the barrel to sit on, and a 2x4 railing on top secured with 2 1/2" blue-kote (weather-resistant), course kreg screws.  Simple, right?

After building my first rain barrel, I'm going to try a few more ideas on version 2.  The landscaping fabric that I used was very heavy duty, so heavy duty that it's almost water proof.  You're really better off with screen material or cheap, flimsy landscape fabric which will be much more porous.  When I replace some screens on my sliding doors, I'll save the old screening material and use it for rain barrels.  Also, positioning of the rain barrel is very important.  I chose a location with a sloped roof, but I didn't account for how the rain would drip off the roof in a variable way with certain spots collecting most of the drips.  I could fix this by installing a drip edge or gutter to collect and direct the rain, but I'm not sure that's necessary for just filling a few watering cans.  However, for my vegetable garden, I'm going to need some sort of collection system to divert water into the rain barrel....more on that in another blog post.

June 4th 2013: Another coat rack!

I liked the last coat rack that I built so much that I built another one for the entry to our sun porch.  This one needed to be a little smaller, but that's the beautiful thing about building your own custom wood - you can build it however you'd like to whatever size you like in whatever finish that you like.  For this space, I was working between a door frame, a wall, and a thermostat so the dimensions that I needed were very specific. The hook above the thermostat is just used for keys.

I had more leftover wood and trim, so this was an easy build.

I did remember the wood conditioner this time, but I forgot to read the directions and wait 10-15 minutes to allow it permeate the wood.  Oh well, the third time I'll get it right!  The stain was the bombay that I mentioned in the previous post.

Remember if I can do this stuff, anybody can.

For hooks, I used some old hooks that I salvaged from a previous home that we owned and just cleaned them up with some steel wool.  They look great!

OK, no more coat racks - the next post will be something completely different.  I promise.

Here's a pic...

April 22nd 2013: Building a coat rack!

We have a little entrance way in our basement that I thought could use a coat rack to throw coats (obviously), hang keys, and store small items like sunglasses or drinks on top.

I used two 1x6's cut to 4' lengths and a strip of molding to hide the joint.  (I used "quarter round" molding, but any molding that looks good to you will work).  First, I joined the pieces of wood together using Kreg joints spaced about 8-12" apart and 1 1/4" Kreg square head screws and Gorilla Wood Glue.  The molding was added using a DeWalt 20 Degree cordless nailer with 1 1/4" nails.  Nail holes were filled with MinWax Wood filler and sanded smooth after drying.  I forgot to use Wood Conditioner prior to staining...I mean...I purposely skipped the MinWax Wood Conditioner so I could get that blotchy, hand-burnt look to the finish....yeah.  Anyway, I kind of like the way it turned out.  It's more than fine for the basement.  I used two leftover cans of stain that I had from other projects.  The first coat was a MinWax stain color called "Bombay Mahogany Satin", followed by a fine sanding after the stain was completely dry, and then another coat of "Antique Walnut Satin".  The brass hooks are actually called "robe" hooks and I like the way they lie flat against the wood.  At the end, I added a single brass hook for keys.

So, that's it!  Build your own coat rack in a day.

Here's a pic...

April 8th 2013: Building a cold frame!

As this is my first wood-working post, I thought that I'd share a little bit about me.  I would describe myself as a novice wood-worker.  I'm certainly not a master carpenter.  I've never had any formal training and I don't own as many tools as Norm Abrams.  So why have a blog?  Because if I can build stuff, then anyone can!

Here's a cold frame that I built...

What's a cold frame?  Good question.  It's like a mini greenhouse that's designed to extend the growing season (early Spring and late fall/early winter).  The nice thing about working with wood is that you can customize anything you want and build it how you want.  The cold frame that I designed was built around a medium sized sheet of Lexan (Home Depot) and all of the dimensions are derived from the size of the Lexan sheet that you choose.  Since my box is relatively small, I only needed two 1x8x8 cedar planks (Lowe's), two 1x2x8 cedar furring strips (Lowe's), 2 door hinges (Home Depot), and some Kreg squared-headed 1-1/4" screws.  The top is angled at about 30 degrees to catch the most sun.  I just used the lexan as a guide on how to cut the cedar because again the box is designed around the lexan sheet.  One trick was to double up the cedar plank before cutting the angled cut with a circular saw so that both sides of the box match exactly.  You need a steady hand with the circular saw in order to cut a straight line for the lexan to sit on flush.  I put my box together using a Kreg-joint jig and screws.  The bottom is made up of the left over wood scraps with some gaps that allow for soil drainage.  Since it's cedar, there's no staining or finishing required.  I lined the box with Dewitt Landscape fabric (so all of the dirt doesn't wash out the drainage gaps) and filled it up with potting soil.  Right now, I've planted some basil, lettuce, and peas.  I guess we'll see in a few weeks if the cold frame works or not!  It's currently sitting on my back deck, but at some point I might make a table for it to sit on.

Here's some more pics...