Category Archives: Home Improvement
DIY Landscaping Project (Part 3/5 – Ordering stones and rocks)
We went to our favourite place Beaver Valley Stone, we only spent an hour and ordered the following. Yes, we were fast because we didn’t have a solid plan (only draft with no exact measurement, that’s my style as always) and we probably ordered more than we needed – but I do believe that if you are a good artist, you should be able to change your art work according to the situation.
Everything got delivered in 3 days at our door. Awesome! Total we spent is around $1100 CAD with tax.
- 2 pieces (1480 lbs) Chocolate Armour Stones
- 1 piece (840 lbs) Mica Quartz Stones
- 3 pieces (660 lbs) Granite Balder Stones
- 3 pieces (480 lbs) Iron Stones
- 2 tons of 1-3″ Pebbles River Stones
- 3/4 tons Alabama Gold
- 2 sections of Unilock NorthShore Interlocking stones 2″x10″
As you can see, Deb’s hand was in the photo. She was telling the Beaver Valley guy “That one, that one…” HAHA….
(All Photos were taken using iPhone)
To read all parts of this DIY landscaping project:
DIY Landscaping Project (Part 2/5 – Rhino Bag got picked up today)
My 1.5 tons Rhino Bag got picked up today, it was scary to watch cos it’s so damn heavy with the heavy clean fill/dirt at the bottom. I was afraid that it could break… these bags are just amazing, strongly recommended for DIY people. With the bag and pickup fee, it’s around $200 CAD.
(For privacy, I intentionally masked the background because I do believe Google has the technology to do “image search” on their Street View database)
To read all parts of this DIY landscaping project:
DIY Landscaping Project (Part 1/5 – Fixing Drainage in Back yard)
I kept putting off this 2 huge projects (front yard + back yard) for many years, because it’s very low priority. Now, it’s time to do it. Before jumping into landscaping, I need to fix one huge problem – Our backyard has drainage problem due to grading, the grass near the fence is so wet after raining that you can’t even walk on it, it’s like a swamp.
What caused this problem?
This drainage problem DID NOT exist when we first got the house, however after 4-5 years this problem becomes more serious. The causes are:
- My downstream neighbors raised the grading by putting flower beds, or simply adding sod or top soil to level their lowest point that blocks the drainage
- After putting up the fence, the lowest point in my yard is fully shaded. Without enough sun light so water doesn’t evaporate fast enough
Analysis of Problem and Interesting Findings
Before fixing the problem, let’s examine how much water there is. I excavated the lowest point by hand manually and interestingly I found that the water actually flows from one house to another: First, water flows from my left hand side neighbor (my upstream) to me, then continue to flow to my right hand side neighbor (my downstream). You can see it was pretty horrible after a huge storm, it was like a creek and the water was not going to evaporate or drain fast enough.
For some houses, there is an option to re-route the water to the front or the street. However, in my case it is impossible due to the huge slope (8′ in height) resulting back yard being the lowest point. To fix the problem, I bought 20 bags of 3/4″ clear gravel, 100′ filtered weeping tile and a Rhino Bag.
Solution – Weeping Tile, French drain/trench and Dry Well
I spent quiet some time looking for solution on the Internet, the French drain + Dry Well is the best option in my case. After I installed the weeping tile with the gravel, as you can see in the picture - left hand side was no longer flooded with water, all the water went to the right hand side (lowest point). Next, I dug a 3′ deep dry well. Ideally, the dry well should be 6′ deep and much bigger in diameter. But due to many limitation, that’s all I could do. That should fix 80% of the water problem, the rest will flow slowly downstream to my neighbors (this is by design from the original grading that the builder put it together).
The other problem is because of the fence, my yard’s lowest point does not get enough sun to evaporate the water. So, some water that flows to my downstream neighbor’s highest point should actually benefits his plants, and his highest point should get tons of sun light.
During my investigation, I also found this water problem was caused by the 3 downspouts (2 mine, 1 neighbor’s), the water collected from the roof eventually ended up at the lowest point of the backyard! Now that I installed one huge rain barrel 219 L, hopefully that can help a bit, see Rain Barrel Project.
(All Photos were taken using iPhone)
To read all parts of this DIY landscaping project:
Fiskars Salsa Rain Barrel Review and Mod – Extend the connector hose + Anti-Theft Rain Barrel lock
Recently, I bought a Fiskars Salsa Rain Barrel (58 gallons/219 Liter) for our house because I am just amazed by its built quality and the overflow design. Before I bought it, I read a lot of reviews on the Internet complaining about 2 things:
1. Does not work for square downspout or it’s leaking
2. Connector hose (36″) is way too short
Now, I am going to show you how to solve these problems because I am having the exact same issues. First of all, I built a solid base by using some left over interlocking stones from my previous Driveway Extention Project. A leveled solid base is important because a rain barrel filled with water is around 500 lb, you definitely don’t want it to tip over.
To extend the hose for more than 36″ (I need 5′ – 6′), there is an easy way to solve this problem. You can simply buy “Rain Barrel Connector Kit” (item#5960) OR ANOTHER “DiverterPro Rainwater Diverter” (Item#59626935) and then connect the two black plastic hoses using a 1″ fitting, dumping the rest into garbage.
Since my local hardware store don’t carry that either of these Fiskars items, I have to go with my DIY way:
- 1″ (inner) PVC water hose
- Tapcon 10 pieces
- 5 x brackets to hold the PVC hose
- 2 x fittings for 1″ (inner) diameter
- 5 x metal clamps
Installation Notes
It is pretty straight forward to put everything together as you can see, I strongly recommend that you use those metal brackets on the wall because PVC hose is pretty heavy. Without the brackets, you can’t keep the hose level, and water may not flow properly.
For the square downspout (2.5″), treats it as 2″ x 3″ in the manual. Cut 3.5″ at the top and then 10.25″ at the bottom (refers to manual). Just force the aluminum into the 2″ x 3″ adapter comes with Fiskars kit, by applying pressure from the sides. Then, put a lot of silicone caulking to fill the gaps, this is important otherwise it will leak. Do the same thing for the lower part, it looks ugly inside but it’s wide enough for water to pass through. Trust me, I did similar thing with my roof’s downspout many years ago and there was no issues.
Adding Anti-Theft Rain Barrel lock
After I sold my boat years ago, I have a left over steel cable and a brass Abloy lock (it was used lock the outboard motor). In order not to ruin Fiskars’ design, I used their pre-drilled hole on the other side of the barrel. So, I bought a eye hook and a pad lock plate hardware. I applied some plumber’s putty on the eye hook to make sure it is water tight (this stuff is good only for non-high pressured application). Now, the most critical part is to prevent people from removing the eye hook – I used some automotive repair ePoxy. When it dries, it is hard as a rock and this prevents people from removing the eye hook. (Mighty Putty works too, I have both) The rest is pretty much self explanatory, of course, this can easily be defeated by brute force or cutting the cable/plastic. Similar to cars alarm and steering wheel lock, this is more on the theft deterrence side - hopefully they move onto other easy targets instead.
As you can see in the last photo, the extended hose worked very well and the rain barrel was filled with water without overflowing and without leaking from the anti-theft eye hook.
Overall Review for Fiskars Salsa Rain Barrel:
Pros:
- Built quality is so solid and strong
- One side is flat against the wall without wasting space
- Color, texture and look are stylish, paintable too!
- The diverter/overflow design just amazed me
- Totally enclosed container, no metal wire mesh
Cons:
- Unlike the traditional Rain Barrel design (with downspout pointing directly to the barrel), the diverter will not capture 100% rain from the downspout, some will just go right through especially for small scale of rain. In general, this is not a problem for me because it gets filled up pretty quickly. However, it is a problem if you live in some areas where it lacks of rain.
- Expensive, I paid $119 CAD + tax (on sale), regular price is $159 CAD.
- Must use with downspout, while the regular rain barrel (with wire mesh on top) can be used to collect rain in any open space
Rain Barrel for $25 Alternative
If you live in York Region in Canada, you can get the Rain Barrel (with government subsidy) for just $25, check out WaterForTomorrow.ca However, consider these:
- My friends told me that you have to wake up at 6:00 AM on a specific Saturday to beat the line up
- Only available for certain day while quantities last (probably 1-2 times a year)
- The tap is too close to the ground, you can’t use the handheld watering can
- Overflow design doesn’t work, you need to fix it yourself. Check out Vincent Ma’s Flickr
(All Photos were taken using iPhone)
DIY – Repairing the water table drain
My wife Deb gave me a challenge. At work, she has a huge water table for the kids to play, however, the drain was broken and disappeared. The only thing left was a hole that fits a standard tap. So, after several trips to Home Depot, I bought a tap (with the plastic connector) and 2 huge washers, total cost was less than $10.
Challenge #1: How to secure the tap? I used epoxy (Any automotive proxy or mighty poxy will work) to create a permanent ring around the tap, this is for securing the position
Challenge #2: Metal washers will get rusted if being used in water, so I used a product called “Plastic-Dip” to coat a layer of plastic on both washers
Challenge #3: How to make it water tight? I used Plumber’s Putty which is a flexible material that will create watertight seals, primary used around faucets and drains
In the photos, I used a small yogurt plastic container to do a test, the real thing will get installed by Deb when she is at work some time later this week. We will see how it goes…..
DIY: Always-On + AA Battery Laser Pointer Mod for Cats
Mythos and Rini are very demanding when playing with laser pointer, we play with them almost every other night. For some odd reasons, we can’t find any “Always-On” laser pointer from pets or stationery stores. To conclude, we have the following issues with our existing laser pointer:
- AG13/LR44/357 watch batteries are way too expensive
- Watch battery does not last long enough
- Momentary switch makes my fingers become very tired and painful
Here is the mod. This is extremely simple, anyone can do it in several hours. All you have to do is to carefully open the laser pointer by cutting on the right place with a hacksaw. Then, get rid of the momentary switch and replace it with a regular one. You can use a “project box” (like the one I am using) which is ideal for this application. Instead of using watch battery, use 3 x 1.5v AA battery with the battery holder. Solder and hot glue everything together, done! It is bigger in size, but most importantly it solves the problems.
Mine is a low tech solution, but it works. If you have money and wanna go for high tech, you can consider buying an iPad and turn into a cat toy. Well, I think that’s one of the most expensive cat toy I have ever seen. Watch this video: iggy investigates an ipad on YouTube. One draw back though, the benefits of cardio exercises on chasing and running cannot be done on iPad. Love that video, the cat is so cute… wondering if I can do the same with my iPhone.
(All photos were taken using iPhone)
DIY Raised Flower Bed using 4×4 wood posts
We hired someone to build a deck 3 years ago in our backyard, and we have some extra space between the deck and the fence on the side, so I decided to build a flower bed. To read the story about the deck (it was a horrible job done by bad contractor), go here: Our 10×10 Deck structural fix, railing re-do and staining.
As usual I didn’t have any plan on Home Improvement projects, and I DID NOT even measure the size of the ground before I went to Home Depot (HD). I was so spontaneous when I was shopping other items at HD and I talked to the guy and asked if their rental truck was available. He replied yes, and then I grabbed the wood. Crazy eh? You may ask, how much wood do I need? My theory is, buy 1.5 x to 2x more than your guessing (just like I give time estimation to my Clients at work). If there are extra woods left, build some other stuff (at work, if I got extra time, I facebook and youTube). The most important thing is the quality of work of the end result.
Designer’s Blade
Girls got designer brand like Prada, Gucci, I got a new 7 1/4 blade from Freud’s “Diablo”, Made in Italy – that’s my Designer’s Blade. LOL.. It did a really good job, cut the 4×4 like ToFu.
Drainage Consideration
To cut the wood, level them and put them together using screws are no brainer. Anyone can do it. Since it is a raised flower box, I am worrying about drainage with bad experience many years ago at my parent’s place. So, this time I bought a 10′ weeping tile with some 3/4 gravel and dug a creek in the middle. The most important part is to make sure there is a natural slope where water is running away from your house by gravity.
(Most photos were taken using iPhone, some taken with GF1)
Drainage Test - Did not pass for 1st time
Originally, I used those left-over black color landscape fabric to wrap around the weeping tile as filter – that was a big mistake. The specific landscape fabric I had, was designed for slow water penetration for plants. When I flooded the flower bed for drainage test, the landscape fabric was holding the water and it was dripping so slowly.
Using Geotextile and re-did the filter – Passed for 2nd time
Geotextiles are designed for drainage and protection for retaining wall and under Interlocking stones, I wrapped around the weeping tile and used plastic cable ties to secure them. It was huge difference when I tested the drainage again. Please do not repeat my mistake.
Material and Price
- 10 pieces of 4x4x10 pressure treated wood, $120
- 3″ deck screws 250 pieces (ACQ safe, green color) ,$25
- Freud Diablo 7 1/4″ 24 teeth framing blade, $14
- 6 bags of pine Barks, $24
- 9 bags of 3/4 gravel, $40
- 1 roll of Geotextile Fabric, $25
- 10′ weeping tile, $7
- 15 bags top soil 30L, $40
- Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss, $10
- Thompson Waterproof $20
- Stainless steel reinforcement plate $5
- Home Depot truck rental 1.5 hour, $25
- Manual labor, $priceless
Finally, I applied a coat of Thompson Waterproof inside and out. Total price of this project was $355 CAD (without any flowers or plants)
Plants – Annual and Perennial
Deb and I went to Humber Nurseries on one weekend and we bought some annual, perennial some and a Asparagus plant. Okay, I am good at home improvement but I suck at Gardening, so I didn’t even know the names of the flowers (I am not interested to know) that we bought. Hopefully, they won’t die because we spent like over $100 CAD on the plants.
Blocking cats from hiding under the bed and couch
Mythos and Rini are generally very good cats, but sometimes when they have a bad day, they would hide under the bed or couch and don’t wanna come out (Note: it is not excessive hiding, we observed for 2 years). We totally understand cats like to hide and play, that’s why I built them cat tree and cat condo. However, this behavior disturbs our daily routine especially if that happens at LATE night, sometimes we have to wake up at 5:30 AM for work next morning and that’s pretty frustrated trying to kick them back to their own room so that we can sleep.
Blocking them from going in
If you know me or have worked with me, I am the person who have no plans but have strong determination to complete a project with quality. I am an freestyle Artist, I usually walk around Home Depot and see what they have and come up with a solution with some drawing on the spot, just like the Pet Gate Project last time. My style is similar to basic survival skills – you act based on existing resources you can find and come up with a solution. That is the reason why I am so pissed, when my company asks me about career goal and plan every year. I can totally change my career to something different and I can still survive, who gives a shit? Life is all about survival, no matter what you do eventually you will die.
Anyways, I bought some 1x5x6 and 1x4x6 Pine from Home Depot, cut them and nailed them. It’s very easy, anyone can do that if you know how to cut and nail, unless you are one of dumbasses on the TV show “Canada’s Worst Handyman”. Note that I re-used the scrap wood for middle support, I think that’s green and innovative.
(All project photos were taken using iPhone)
One challenge for the Queen size bed is the metal frame that comes with several LEGS in the middle. To overcome this, I made 2 boxes as you see in the picture. Finally, to put it to the test, we have Mythos and Rini for QA. Mythos was really mad and tried so hard to push the wood. But Cats do not have a lot of persistence, so they gave up after 10 minutes. Project is so successful.
Notes and Side Benefits
I have intentionally made the boxes smaller so that people don’t see the wood from the standing angle, the other alternatives are: (1) add mirrors to create optical Illusion (2) stain/paint the wood with color. With this project, there is another benefit - I no longer need to vacuum the carpet under the bed or swiffer the floor under the couch! It saves a lot of time and effort.
Proof of Concept – Controlling Garage Door Opener remotely using mobile phone
About 2 Years ago, a huge snow storm made Deb’s car got stuck on our street, and it was very messy. Because Deb was in a rush, by the time she got to the highway she called me at work saying “I was in a rush and I forgot to close the garage door.” This was the project I had in my mind back then. Finally I have some time during Christmas holiday, I can try out this proof of concept.
First I bought a universal Skylink remote control from Home Depot (around $20, it works for most brands), because I didn’t want to ruin the original remote control comes with the opener. By opening the skylink keychain remote control, I could easily locate the switch. Just soldered the 2 wires and connected to the X10 Universal Module! It’s so simple, anyone can do it.
Low Tech X10 does the job
X10 technology is so old, I was the first generation user about 15 years ago. Since it is still working okay, I can still using. But if you don’t have it, don’t buy X10. Consider other products like Insteon, Zigbee and Z-Wave. If you have been using X10, you know it is NOT that stable and it can turn on by itself all of a sudden. Although it is very rare, it does happen. To make it safer, I added an Appliance Module on top of the Universal Module (see in 2nd last picture). In my PHP script, I do the following:
1. Turn On Applianace Module, Sleep for 3 secs
2. Turn On Universial Module, Skylink button is connected, Sleep for 6 secs
3. Turn Off Applianace Module
Note 1: The application shown in the picture is NOT a native compiled iPhone App. it is just a simple PHP script running on web server.
Note 2: This is a proof of concept and for demostration only, Firecracker and X10 combination is not secure.
Related Home Automation / Security Projects
A while ago, I wrote a web service so that I can read my basement (server room) temperature on my mobile phone, check it out if you are interested:
- Remote Temperature/Humidity reading on Mobile Phone Project
Configurations:
- Skylink Keychain remote control
- X10 firecracker (Serial to USB needed)
- X10 Universal Module (UM506)
- X10 Appliance Module (AM466)
- mscm17a.exe (download from Internet, free)
(All project photos were taken using point and shoot camera)
Watts FloodSafe Auto-ShutOff Connector Review – DO NOT USE
Originally, I was so happy that I have installed “Watts FloodSafe Auto-ShutOff Connector” on the toilet several months ago, because it claims that it could protect our house from flooding. Well, as an IT professional and Home Improvement guy, I always want to put these gimmick products to the test. Yes, I found a serious problem.
How it works?
First, let’s understand how it works. There is no electronic component inside these connectors, everything is mechanical. Quote from Watts’ web site “When flow of water in excess of the flow required by any standard fixture/appliance is detected, FloodSafe assumes a burst and the flow of water is shutoff”.
What is the problem? False Positive
This is a serious flaw, because they didn’t say how many seconds after the pressure exceed being detected, then shuts it off. Air in the pipe or perhaps large scale of water banging (Google it if you don’t know what “water banging” is) can trigger this as false positive.
How will you replicate the problem?
1. Assuming you have installed a FloodSafe Auto-ShutOff value on 2nd floor toilet.
2. Go to basement, shut off the main water supply value for the whole house
3. In basement or on main floor, turn on any water tap for 1 min. This will make water drain from second floor and to create air in the pipe due to gravity.
4. Turn on the main water supply value for the house, everything is back to normal
5. Now, go to 2nd floor and turn on water on the tap (assume this tap didn’t have FloodSafe installed), tap works normally but you will hear a big bang noise within the first 10 seconds because water is rushing out from the pipe due to air in the pipe.
6. On 2nd floor, try to flush the toilet (where FloodSafe is installed). After the 1st flush, there is no more water refill! Because stupid FloodSafe thinks there is a water burst!
(I have repeatedly tested the above experiement for 3 times and it yielded the same result, very sad…)
When can this happen?
I didn’t make this experiment up, this actually happened to me. Here are 2 primary examples:
1. Your local municipal water supply shuts off due to temporary water outage
2. You are on vacation and you shut off your main valve before you leave
How to reset the FloodSafe? and what is the problem?
According to Watts’ web site, you have to shut off the value of water supply, DISCONNECT the connection, and then RECONNECT, this will automatically reset the FloodSafe device. Yes, it did work but consider these:
1. Can you imagine if you have 5 bathrooms in the house, all faucets and toilets have to go through the same procedures? This is bullshit and I think FloodSafe is just another overpriced garbage.
2. Can you also imagine a non-handy family come home after vacation and found that they can’t take a shower and their shit can’t get flushed properly? How frustrated is that?
More Reading
There are some more links you may want to read about FloodSafe product, although they are not related to false positive but they worth reading.
- FloodSafe Washing Machine Hoses
Room for improvement
They need to re-design this stupid product, either do more testing on false positive or make it easier to reset the unit. It is a good idea, but just bad design that doesn’t work. I just CANNOT believe I can buy this from Home Depot, this is so unacceptable. Good luck to all of you if you have installed many of these units in your house. I have already changed mine back to the regular one, and sold this crappy product on CraigsList.