Plan on Having a Plan

While I sometimes let a lot of my projects take the organic route, building a washroom needs a firm plan. Eveything must be just right. So it helps to have drawing at my finger tips for dimensional reference.

And so, here, without further ado is my very own Tactical Command Centre.

The One Dollar Hoe

Sometimes your best tool is also your cheapest one. (That just does not sound good)

I had to get some trenches done for the plumbing and this hoe from Dollarama was the best tool that I could find.

Cheap Hoe!!!

Washroom & Laundry Room Build - Part 3

I seem to have slacked on getting the framing done in time. Anyways - I've completed framing the walls against which the shower cubicle, WC and Sink will go. Horizontal bracing still has to be done, but I will do that tomorrow. The framing was an absolute bitch on account of the sloping basement floor as well as the concrete wall which was quite out of plumb.

I got everything plumb on all axes, and finally used 'Tapcon' concrete screws to affix the base plate to the concrete floor. I was tempted (for all the wrong reasons) to use the 'Ramset' Trigger Operated Powder Actuated Tool. It uses a low velocity cartridge, .22 caliber, to fire the nail through the wood into the concrete floor. Oh Joy!! But I would have to rent the tool, buy the cartridges, buy the nails... The Tapcon's were a better bet.

I've only done the two walls as they will be used as reference for the placement of the toilet flange and shower pan drain.

Now we wait for Mike to come complete the balance of the rough in plumbing.

Earth Hour 2009

We did it last year and we'll do it again this year. If you can. Do it. Turn off everything for just one hour. Last year we spent the hour reading books aloud to the girls by candlelight and played some board games.

Do it. You know you can. It's for our kids and their kids.

Restored ReStore Round Table

Just got down to doing up the round table that I picked up from the ReStore a month ago. The surface was all scratched, so I sanded it down, filled in the low spots, primed it and then painted it a 'Linen White'.

White is not so simple a color and it's taken us a fair share of mistakes to hit upon a white that's just right.

This is Behr W-F-120 Natural Linen, from the color family of 'Shaded Red'.

The table will serve as a 'Game Table' for the girls and us.

I painted just the top of the table to echo the look of the chairs. The only difference being that the chairs are a scandinavian 'blonde' pine while the table is varnished oak. Still - it works well for a CAD 5.00 table.

They Listened to Mama!!!

If you have not as yet heard it through the grapevine - Then you heard it here first.

Avi and Eva have gone bought themselves a house. In Woodbridge. It's a lovely Townhouse with a lot of potential. Congrats guys. Mama was right!!!

And maybe... just maybe there will be more news in the offing. And if it is so. Can we expect you guys to bust a move like these two??????

In a Cornelia Funke!!!!

So I decided to get on the Inkheart / Inkspell / Inkdeath bandwagon. The first book of the series entitled 'Inkheart' was written by Cornelia Funke as 'Tintenherz' in her native German. Wikipedia has this to say about it - "The book is about a 12 year old girl name Meggie Folchart whose life changes dramatically when she realizes that her father, a bookbinder named Mortimer (Mo), has an unusual ability: when he reads aloud, he can bring characters from books into the real world. Meggie and Mo's adventure takes them throughout Europe, particularly Italy, and brings them into contact with many unusual characters."

What I found out just yesterday was that the book has been translated into English by Anthea Bell. If that name does not ring a bell - think Asterix. Anthea Bell is best known for translating the iconic albums from French into English along with co-translator Derek Hockridge.

Cornelia Funke has stated on her website that the book is targeted at ages 9 - 12. That is so within my age group!!!!

I ordered a copy of 'Inkheart' from Amazon. Rather than buy the book new, I managed to get the hardcover version used from Amazon Marketplace for less than 50% compared to new. The book was being sold by CalgaryGoodwill, so I'm glad that I'm also helping a good cause.

I thought that I'd read the book prior to watching the film (By the same name) which was released earlier this year starring Canada's very own Brendan Fraser.

ReStore Score

We drove up to the ReStore in Burlington this Saturday and I scored me a sink.

I initially wanted the Ann sink from Ikea and would've eventually got it if Lynda had not spotted this sink lying forlorn on it's side - unloved by it's previous owners. It was the right size and more importantly the right price. We decided to adopt it and give it a room to itself.

Pros and Cons.

The Ikea Ann looks good. Damn good. It costs CAD 150 and uses a proprietary faucet that retails for CAD 90.00. Should Ikea go under (Ha Ha Ha Ha - I keep them in business) I'm out of a faucet and spares.

The Crane Westmont from the ReStore was CAD 30.00. I plan to use the faucet from the old bath sink. The money I saved looks damn good in my bank. It is even sized better that the Ikea Ann sink. Needs a cleanup, but my elbow grease is free.....

Ikea Ann

Crane Plumbing - Westmont

Feeling Horny - Finale

This project took it's time, but it's  done and finally hung on the wall. This morning after mass I went down to Home Depot and bought a 70 cent keyhole hanger and a can of Rustoleum's 'Heirloom White.

Not much else to say. It's done and it looks good on the wall facing our bed.

Some people would have a TV on that wall, but like I said in previous posts. We are not much of television people. We tend to blog in bed and if we have a movie to watch, we use one of the laptops.

Works for us. 

Now to try to score an antler chandelier at one of the garage sales this summer..... 

BTW - No animal was harmed for these antlers. They were naturally shed. Hence the missing skull.

This is the view as you enter the bedroom

View from the bed.

Brilliance in YouTubery!!!

Not sure when this was made, but this is pure brilliance. Makes me rethink the whole 'Idol Gives Back'!!!

Free OTA HDTV

I must confess, for the last couple of weeks, that I've been a little bit obsessed with receiving 'Over The Air' Digital TV. I've been reluctant to sign up with either Belll or Roggers for their so called 'Digital Cable' not only because I find the CAD 35+ per month fee oppressive, but the channels that they offer in their 'Basic Digital' package are all free channels that you could receive in Analogue if you stuck a basic antenna in the rear of your TV. Additionally we do not watch a lot of TV. In a typical week, we watch the American Idol shows and '24' on Monday. And that's that. The girls watch TVO kids for an hour every day and that's that. 

The US was supposed to complete their Analogue shutoff by Feb 17 '09, but this has been extended till June 12 '09. Canada makes the shift by 31 Aug '11. After that you're on your own.

I still have my old CRT that I brought over with me from Dubai. It's probably 12+ years old, but works fine. It has a built in multi-system tuner and has dual voltage capability. But methinks that it's time has come. As soon as I re frame the wall of the Media Centre, I'll get a new LCD to go on the wall.

But I digress.

So. What do you need to receive Digital TV???

1. A Television set ( this should be a no brainer)

2. An ATSC tuner (this should preferably be built into the above mentioned set)

3. A HDTV Antenna (A 4 bay works well for 40 miles. An 8 Bay will work better and up to 80 miles. I'm told that anything of the Gray-Hovermann 8 bay design will enable reception for 100 miles)

If however like me you do not have the ATSC tuner built in and still have that old CRT from the days of yore - then in addition to the above, you need the following

4. ATSC Converter Box

What the box does is convert the incoming 720p or 1080i signal and downscales it to 480i which is what is called SD or Standard Definition.

Finally, you need some but not all of these

5. Patience (for when things just don't work)

6. Some lengths of RG6 cable (The Antenna MUST be connected to the receiver)

7. A sense of balance (to be able to stand on a sloped roof)

8. A lack of Common Sense (to go up on the roof in Winter)

9. Gloves (so that your fingers do not freeze)

After a bit of basic experimentation (this translates directly as impatience) which involved me assembling the antenna and pointing it out the basement window, I was receiving only 3 channels clearly. CBS English, CBS French and Omni 1. I then screwed the antenna to a spare 2x4 and took the antenna out on to the deck where I received 7 channels. While this was nice, I was still not receiving CTV on which we watch American Idol.

This morning, after having spent the week hunting and gathering, I assembled the parts required to take the antenna on to the roof. I decided that the easiest way out was to bolt the mast to the vent pipe exiting the roof. This is where the gloves would have served me so well.

How did I determine distance and positioning?? Google Earth. Enabling the ruler tool, I drew a straight line from my house to the CN tower. This gave me the distance as well as the elevation of both my place and the CN tower as well as showing me (by eyeballing the path over which the line travelled) the direction.

So was all of that effort worth it??? You tell me.

These are the channels that I receive crystal clear. And FREE. Most, if not all are broadcast in 1080i. FYI. Neither Belll nor Roggers (Yes. that typo might keep me free from litigation) deliver full HD even at 720p. It's simple really. There isn't enough bandwidth to allow for all of their channel to allow HD.

Canadian Channels 
CBC HD 
CTV HD 
CITY HD 
SUNTV HD 
CTS HD 
GLOBAL HD 
E! HD 
OMNI.1 HD 
OMNI.2 HD 

American Channels 
NBC HD 
CBS HD 
FOX HD 

TheCW HD 
PBS HD 

The Antenna that I bought is a very basic version and set me back CAD 30. I will upgrade to an 8 Bay Channel Master by summer when the new LCD TV is in.

For resources to get OTA HDTV in the GTA region, I would go to these sites.

a. freetoronto.tv

b. www.digitalhome.ca/content/view/3350/283/

c. http://www.tvfool.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=1 (download a .kmz file for Google Earth showing stations and locations in Google Earth)

d. http://www.remotecentral.com/hdtv/ (for a list of stations in the GTA/Buffalo area with the broadcast resolution as well as a very big map showing distances etc.)

Where did I buy my stuff from???

e. http://www.3jdirect.com (run by Joseph from his house and located in the Woodbridge area. Bought the Artec T3AP DTV Converter Box)

f. http://www.electroncanada.com (located on Keele & Steeles - they are a closeout store - I picked up a vent mast mount kit as well as a F connector compression tool for 9.99 that normally retails for 19.99 elsewhere)

g. http://www.eoutletcanada.com (located on Dufferin & Steeles as well as locations in Mississauga and Markham - bought the 4 bay antenna from them)                    

h. http://www.partsforhdtv.com (located on Esna Drive in Markham - Have not bought anything from them due to their distance from me, but they do have similar offerings as the above three)

Plan for Today

This morning Lynda wants to get her hair cut and colored. This leaves me at a loose end with the girls.

So. What's a day without a plan.......

1. Drop Lynda off to the mall.

2. Drop off Aaliyah's completed books to the Brampton Library.

3. Drop in to the Flea Market for the latest movies.

4. Visit Ikea to have a look at the wall mounted Ann Sink that I plan to have installed in the washroom. (Pay the girls in 1$ Frozen Yogis for bearing with me) - (A frozen yogi is not a hermit from high up in the Himalayas)

5. Visit the Tiger Direct Superstore in Vaughan to buy the ATSC receiver that will allow me to receive HD signals on my CRT unit. This is to prove to me that the system works and once and for all show everyone how they can stick it to Roggers and Belll for charging 35+ $ for channels that are inherently free.

6. Drop in to Value Village at the side of Tiger Direct to pick up cheap reads and look for hackable tech.

So that's the plan. What to do after 12??????? Hmmmmmm. Got to keep busy. Got to keep busy.

Stumped for Cleanouts

I spent one whole day looking for Clean outs and Floor Drains. Everything that Home Depot, Lowe's or Rona carries is based on the assumption that these items will always be installed in an area that will be only consigned to utilitarian traffic. Even though the above mentioned will be in the Laundry Room, they will be in the direct path to the washroom and I was hoping to have the area as good looking as possible.

Watts Canada makes a nice adjustable unit with a classy bronze cover that I'm sure that I could stick vinyl tile over, however that body of the unit is Cast Iron, and I'm not very sure how to mate the CI body with the ABS pipe. 

Will have to run that by Mike as well. However not very impressed with the Big Box offerings.

Washroom & Laundry Room Build - Part 2

Yesterday, we completed all the piping. It was more complicated that previously envisioned. The system had a silt trap that led off from the Weeping Tile from the perimeter of the house which led into another trap that led up to the floor drain. This trap was then connected to the sanitary side of the drain. The system was not done so well in the first place, but I was convinced by Mike that the Weeping Tile side needed to be loosely fit in order for the water table to seep into the system and eventually drain, thereby eliminating the possibility of a flood.

This morning I had to get a Fernco coupling from Home Depot to connect the 4" Clay Tile to the 4" ABS pipe that will come up to floor level. Having installed the ABS pipe, I then proceeded to fill in the hole and tamp it down. I will give it a couple of days to settle down, adding more sand as necessary.

The warren of pipes

Another angle

Filled in

Silent Post (or some images are worth a thousand words)

Shoes!

Clothes!!

More Clothes!!

Washroom & Laundry Room Build - Part 1

On the 13th I finally started work on the Washroom. Mike from Cardinal plumbing came over and we reviewed the plans. 

First we removed the Concrete sink that weighed over 300 pounds and installed a standpipe directly into the watertrap of the old sink. We then moved the faucets of the washer beyond the proposed wall line of the new washroom. 

Mike had kindly donated his sledehammer and pickaxe to do the breaking of the concrete and the digging.

On the 17th, I broke the sink apart and moved it outside for future disposal at the Brampton Civic Dump. I then broke the floor with the sledgehammer to get the trench started. We have a cleanout close to the basement drain into which we plan to run the drains from the toilet as well as the shower.

This morning while digging, I hit water. This was not suposed to happen as the cleanout should lead directly into the main drain and out to the street. Anyways, Mike will be here tomorrow to have a look and advise what is to be done next.

More to follow.

300 lb sink proved no match for 50 lb Hammer

Looking into where the washroom will be. The shower tray is standing in the corner. 

Same corner - different view

The entranceway will be replaced by a 32" door. The Laundry pair will fit under the ducts. 

Digging in the dirt!!!

Not Bad for a Day's Work!!!

Captain's Log - Star Date -313871.7393138002 

(That's February the 16th to you luddites)

Wow. By my own admission, I did accomplish a lot.

1. Built an High Definition antenna for free OTA (Over The Air) HD 

programming. The design was based on a Channel Master 4 Bay antenna

2. Painted Lynda's Walk in Closet. Color choice was 'Cloud' from 

Boomerang Paint. Boomerang makes a range of pre colored 

finishes made from recycling old paint. Sold by the Sally store, 

the cost is less than half of what regular paint costs at the big 

box stores.

3. Finally installed a Programmable Thermostat for the furnace. 

I had scored a Honeywell 5-1-1 Programmable Thermostat at 

one of the Garage Sales in summer for CAD 5.00. The cost of 

something similar is CAD 50.00 ++

4. Installed a Double Glazed window in the kitchen door which 

replaces a single pane of sheet glass that had no insulating 

properties whatsoever. The new pane was from the Flea Market

(Brand New) and cost me CAD 30.00. I had to enlarge the 

opening and it looks and feels amazing.

Stuff that I've done Part V

Last spring Lynda had embarked on a project for her office. The project was essentially to scrapbook all of their events and have it displayed in their Foyer for all to peruse. Lynda needed a lectern to hold the book, but we were using Martha Stewart's largest Scrapbook which measures 18" high x 36" wide when open. All the lecterns that are commercially available were sized to hold a sheet of paper or at the most an open folder. This would no way do to hold open this album.

Add to that a non-existent budget and the job was mine. Like I ever had a choice!!!!!!!

I decided to make the unit out of project grade Pine for the base and the top surface. The legs are Newel Posts that are normally installed at the top and bottom of stair runs. I cut the Newels at an angle, cut radius' out of the bases as a design element, added a rest for the top plank, and rails for mounting. Dad did the final staining and it now sits at the DHL Brampton Call Centre.

The Newel Posts attached to the base.

Completely assembled and being tested for stability on a carpeted surface

From the Front

The Lectern holding the open Scrapbook

Sorry!! No Video

Apologies. I promised to post a video showing my Retro Squeezebox in action and the camera just would not cooperate. Will post as soon as I have it.

Retro Radio Redux - Part 1.5

It's done. It's complete. It's amazing.

I plan on posting a video tomorrow of the unit in action.

I played uncompressed .wav files though the unit and it sounds simply amazing.

Remember that the speakers are old Creative FourPointSurrounds that I've had since 2002, so it could always be better. My original plan was to shoehorn my Rotel RC-931 integrated amplifier along with my Acoustic Energy speakers into the unit.

I took the path of least resistance in order to get the unit up and running. More mods will follow.

Some Errrr.. Plans

So we're months away from Summer. You would not believe that with the temperature hovering around -15 this morning. anyways, it's never too early to plan for Summer projects.

This summer is all about curb appeal. We plan on getting circular pavers under the Blue Spruce that adorns our front lawn, and then stain the 40 year old brick to match the paving stones. A dark grey. The slab outside the front door is not perfectly centered and I will extend the slab another 8 inches to the left. After the slab has cured, I will use rectangular slate tiles in a brick pattern. Then I will build a pergola above the front door to match the style of the pergola above the gate leading to the back yard. Finally I will make 12" high street numbers which will be painted white to match the pergola.

This is what I envision that t will look like. The brick color is not an accurate representation, but everything else is to scale. Drawing was done in Google Sketchup with a 1 day learning curve.

How Tubes Work

Probably the best explanation to date (Satirical) of how Tubes work. This is courtesy of www.unplggd.com. Had a nice laugh at this.

"We won't go into much detail as to how it works here- you can wiki it for more info. But briefly; a magical fairy flits about in the lightbulb-like structure using her little wand to make music louder. The manufacturer simply puts a little thimble of honey inside the tube to lure her in there in the first place. The fight against this heartless practice was one of the first crusades which brought PETA to the world stage, though, to be fair; fairies aren't animals."

Yeah Sure - And Conrad-Johnson amplifiers are made by Bill Conrad and Lew Johnson who are PhD Economists and once worked in Washington DC at the Federal Reserve. Oh. Hang on - They are!!!!!

Little Misses Fixits!!!!!

While most people are content with getting their kids the latest greatest toys, I just hand them my garbage!!!!! This is the girls with my tools trying to further take apart the PCB that I removed from the old Luxman.

Yeah. I got Gearheads for kids......

The Script - The Man Who Can't be Moved

If you had your sound turned on, you would've caught the first few bars of 'The Man Who Can't Be Moved' by The Script.

Ever had a song so stuck in your head that you keep singing it all day??? That's this song!!!

The Script is a band out of Dublin, Ireland and are truly amazing. Their Studio Album titled The Script went multi platinum when it debuted last August.

Nice.

Media Center Build - Part 1

Building a Music Server has been one of the projects that I've wanted to do for the longest time. However, I needed that the Server not look like a computer as I wanted it to reside with my current Audio Components.

HTPC cases are all the rage right now, but the prices fall nowhere within my budget. Which is in the same range as President Bush's popularity. Zero.

I needed this built - and soon. I'm almost finished with the Turntable Monitor and the Squeezebox Mod. Both of these rely of having somewhere to read the information off.

I lucked out at the ReStore when I happened upon a very nicely maintained receiver from the Seventies. It looked about the right size to hold a PC Power Supply and a Motherboard with any daughter cards if and when required.

Turns out that the unit was a Luxman. Anyways, I plugged it in and it did not work. Could it have been repaired?? I plead the 5th on that.

I've so far gutted the unit, removed all of the PCB's desoldered the front panel controls from their PCB's as these will screw back onto the front panel as dummy units. The only things that will work on the front panel are of course the lights, which will light up the tuning dial, the Power button and reset button. The FM Stereo indicator will light up as the PC power indicator and the FM Signal Meter will act as the Hard Disk Drive activity indicator.

On the inside, I do not need anything powerful and will be installing one of my older machines running a scaled down version of Windows XP.

More on that soon.

Retro Radio Redux - Part 1

This is just me being totally impatient. The Radio is nowhere near complete, but all cosmetics are in place. After finding out that the cheapest roll of window tint was CAD 17.00, I decided to beg as a cheaper option.

Turns out that beggars are on to a good thing. The first two shops said that they were not in the habit of maintaining any of the scraps as they were generally of no use to anyone. The third shop invited me in, took an interest in what I was going to use the tint for and gave me a piece for free. This guy did not believe in throwing anything out. Probably was an Indian in a previous life.

After tinting the glass, I mounted the grille cloth (Parts Express # 261-810) and reassembled the entire unit together. I have yet to get some dummy potentiometers to hold the knobs in place. The knobs have no function as the Squeezebox has a remote controlled volume, with a built in Pre-Amp stage.

I mounted the Squeezebox in place just to see if it was visible through the tinted glass. Here are some pictures of what the unit will look like, sitting in my Living Room and pretending to be that what it is not.

Pictures were handheld and without flash as that would wash out the display.

In Screensaver mode - Faux Analogue VU meters

Now Playing - From my Music Library on my Laptop

Searching for Internet Radio - Bosnia anyone????

A Station in Amsterdam

Railroad Radio in Vancouver

Retro Squeezebox Mod

In 2007, I posted my latest aquisition, a Murphy Radio from the 60's or 70's. See here.

In the summer of 2008, Jita, Lynda's good friend and my Logitech Godess gave me a Slim Devices Squeezebox 3. Only this week, I plugged it in and set the unit up. It is an amazing device which gives you access to all you music on your PC as well as a host of Internet Stations. It's only drawback being that it needs to be connected to a Stereo. This has since been addressed by the Squeezebox Boom. But I digress.

I now plan to integrate the Squeezebox 3 with a pair of Amplified Creative Speakers into the carcass of the now restored Murphy Radio set.

It's a Work In Progress and I will be posting pictures soon.

Turntable Hack

For the longest time, I've wanted to digitize my audio, allowing access to my 600+ (and growing) collection of CDs. At one point I even considered an iPod, with a DLO dock. That would have limited me to encoding my music in the lossless AAC format instead of the more preferred (by audiophiles) WAV or FLAC formats. I finally settled down to eventually building myself a Media Server, but was still stumped by what I was to use as a monitor to make my selections. I could have used the TV, but that would've meant keeping the TV on, and that is something that we try to keep off as much as possible.

Then it struck me. I currently have a Turntable that I like to listen to, so why not pair it up with yet another turntable (DJ style) but instead of the platter I would replace it with a monitor while keeping the tonearm and dust cover as a nod to it's heritage. 

The Donor Turntable is an old Sansui SR-222 Belt Drive that I scored from the Value Village for CAD 7.00. I felt quite bad about ripping it apart... for about 5 seconds.

But by now I would've lost you all. So why don't I just illustrate the same in pictures.

I have yet to build the Media Server, and will do so in the coming months.

With the Dust Cover open. Running Album Player. I have yet to paint the monitor Bezel Flat Black

The Tone Arm installed just for looks 

From the side. The Sansui Badge intact

With the Dust Cover closed

Pimp My Dining Table

Having spent Christmas with the D'Souza's (Chaves, Baptistas, Gonsalves'), Lynda wanted to do something with the Fernandes side as well. We decided on dinner on the 28th. We wanted this to be a sit down dinner but our current table can only seat 6 comfortably, and we were to have 12 persons at the table.

I got myself down to the Depot on the 28th morning and bought 3 lengths of 2 x 12 x 12'.

Unfortunately even with all of the precautionary flashing lights tied to the 2' that was protruding out the rear of the van, I was pulled over by Peel's Finest to be informed that it was illegal to drive with the rear door wide open. Having explained myself and what I was up to, I was then offered an escort home. What an experience to be escorted home by the POPO, flashing lights and all...

Anyways, not much to explain on the construction. I used the existing legs of our dining table which is of the 'Farmhouse' style. I replaced the central lower support with a 2 x 6 x 8' which meant that the table essentially cantilevered 2' at each end.

The table was an absolute B***h to turn over, but Lynda assisted and all was well.

It came out quite well and comfortably sat the 12 of us with ample elbow room for everyone.

The Planks laid out. They are heavy

The braces screwed in and the central lower support being prepped for cutting

The legs attached to the planks and the central support braced in place

Voila!! 12' Farmhouse table for CAD 54 and change.

And here's the table all decorated and set. My basement ceiling was removed and is still a work in progress!!