Smart Tools
on 09/27/2008 at 02:45 PM
Cool. A bit too pricey for me, the occasional woodworker. I’ll stick to my Shopsmith. A combo table saw/drill press/sander/lathe has enough ‘nerd-vana’ to satisfy me while taking up very little space in my garage. Bonus! Made right here in Dayton, OH.
My brother has a Mark V Shopsmith, and I will vouch for them. It’s a great tool; a whole woodworking shop rolled into one gizmo. Of course, it’s an addiction as well. You always want another part, a special dust collector bonnet, another kind of fingerboard, etc.
And then you discover that each accessory tool can also live on a stand alone base, as long as you buy another motor. So pretty soon you’ve got the bandsaw over there, the jointer over there, etc. And then you want a router table. And a dovetail cutter. And a dust collection system. And you need those pneumatic On/Off switches you work with your toes. It never ends.
Shopsmith: it’s a crack addiction that eats electricity and creates sawdust.
Shopsmith: it’s a crack addiction that eats electricity and creates sawdust.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
I have added the bandsaw and the jointer. No separate power stands though. No room.
Sure thing Peiper, I’ll be right over on the next flight!
First thing we’ll do is rip down all the plaster walls inside. They’re bound to be full of mold by now. Then we’ll put in some sprayed EXP insulation. Get the R value up to 35 or so, and make the house stronger at the same time. It’s expensive, but it stops the drafts like nothing else can.
Next we’ll rip out all the windows and have custom made Low E seacoast units put in. Simply the best available, these things will stand up to salt spray and hurricanes forever.
After that we’ll have to put the walls back in inside, so I suggest 3/4” fire resistant greenboard against the studs, with an acoustic membrane over that, followed by 1/2” drywall on the inside. Unless you want to put back in real plaster? Good luck with that. I don’t even know if there are any plaster men left these days.
While the walls are down we’ll bring all your wiring and plumbing up to and beyond the latest building code. Might as well rig your house up for high speed internet, home electronics, and HD TV, so we’ll need quite a bit of coax, Cat 5, and HDMI cabling.
And how’s that furnace holding up? The newer models are much more efficient you know. And if you were thinking about having the floors redone, I’d strongly suggest putting in a heated floor system instead of baseboard heaters or forced hot air. No dust, no cold spots, no ugly heat registers getting in your way.
Since your house is brick and stucco outside, I’d suggest using one of the new flexible paints, like Sherwin-Williams Duration. Or the better ones available to the pros. That’s after we fix all the cracks in the stucco and repoint the bricks as necessary. But these paints are simply amazing. It’s like coating your home in a skintight rubber balloon. No matter how much the stucco expands or contracts, this kind of paint can move with it. And it’s usually good for 20 years.
Roof is pretty new, right? Oh, um, uh - that looks like a bit of a leak around the chimney. I’d better get my guys up there to fix the flashing. We have this nice 5mm copper sheet that just looks so nice with period homes like yours. Expensive, but worth it, and the little wife will just love how it looks. Only the best, right?
When I’m all finished you should be able to heat your house with a candle or two. The place will be so airtight you’ll have to exhale before closing the front door. And they could run a major motorway through your front yard and you wouldn’t even hear it.
Ok, I’m thinking this is a $650,000 job. But let’s keep that open ended, because you never know what you’re going to find when you open up one of those old houses. You know, I’m thinking you should have the termite man come in first and treat the place. Plus, what with the English climate and the age of the home, it’s probable that the sill plates need replacing. That means jacking the house up a bit, and there’s no point putting in plain old soft yellow pine there. You want oak or teak. So maybe let’s up that estimate another $50,000 before we even swing a hammer.
Ok? I can be over Tuesday.
You don’t want to put copper on the roof the pikeys will be up on the roof within days stripping it off!
09/28/2008 at 05:49 PM
