Projects..

Personal Finances Building / Maintaining a Home
21

My son, SIL have a habit of leaving their wallets on the banister, don’t carry it, I feel lost without it, never take it from my pocket, other than when we travel, then a small card case, minimum ‘stuff’, Passport, in a neck money belt sort of thing under my shirt, unseen…

Lost my wallet a few years back, stopped at the drive through ATM, and didn’t take the time to be sure it was fully in my hip pocket as I was driving… Apparent’y when we got out to go to dinner, it fell in the parking lot, a dirt/gravel area… Went back later, no sign of it, and not turned in at the restaurant… So, cancel all the CC’s, replace the driving license, and try to remember all the ‘stuff’ and just forget the cash… Inlaw had picked up the tab for all of us, dinner, drinks, so I never reached for it in the restaurant… Should have, but…

So, more careful since… A PITA to replace stuff… Never any odd charges, so it likely ended up in a dumpster or such…

weco

1 Like
22

When at home I don’t like carrying my wallet around in my back pocket so I leave it on the kitchen table.

I don’t even take my wallet out of its home in my back pocket when I go to bed. Likewise keys and change. I roll my jeans up so nothing can fall out. Makes getting ready in the morning that much quicker.

It helps that I’m retired and wear something besides jeans… last time was a funeral a couple years back. (Yes, I do change to another pair when needed.)

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23

OK, painted the wrong paint, until I get the right one, mounted the towel bar, two 2" screws in each little plate, then a setscrew of undetermined size to secure it… Metric or SAE… 5/64" or metric… Likely one came with in among the debris in the shop…

https://alnoinc.com/products/bathroom-accessories/infinity-a….

Went back n forth looking for Moen, but it’s actually an Alno 24"! Found by digital shopping list from Build.com… Pricey thing! Don’t think I paid that much for it, but might have… I used the contractor’s discount at the time, it’s buried in the paperwork somewhere…

So progress…

24

Further progress, I was down for the count, flu bug it seems, not covid, but disrupted this painting fix anyway…

So now, yesterday I went back to Kelley Moore to see if the 1650 Semi-Gloss tint base had arrived, and it had, only had a few gallons left on the pallet… So maybe it came in last week… So they tinted it for me while I paid the tab, $68.99+Tx, so ~$75 in a gallon can, no Quarts available in this product…

Would have worked it today, but other stuff intervened… Maybe tomorrow…

A lifetime supply… At worst, if it isn’t a totall match I can repaint the whole room!

25

I went to habitat for humanity rehab store yesterday and got 2 gallons of unopened Sherwin Williams Infinity semi-gloss paint for the guest bath project… “donated paint” $8.00/gallon.

also a brushed nickel 3 head sconce. the wiring inside the sconce box is an ungrounded nightmare. no wire nuts; just taped. Will spend a little time wire tracing the red black and white wires.

easily pleased. Kayak fishing tomorrow.
-sano

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26

I went to habitat for humanity rehab store yesterday and got 2 gallons of unopened Sherwin Williams Infinity semi-gloss paint for the guest bath project… “donated paint” $8.00/gallon.

Well, I HAD to match the rest… I spent a bit of time getting the orange peel texture knocked down to match the existing areas where I didn’t patch, but even the wrong shade at least made that look right despite the peanut gallery… So I’m ready…

I have 4 other full unopened gallons in the garage where the Kelly Moore folks messed up an earlier order for my painter, so I didn’t really need more paint… I could paint the laundry room, it’s a patchwork for now…

The garage is all drywalled, but that would be a nightmare to empty all the shelving, I’d have to spray it… I do have an old Sears airless sprayer in the shop rafters, painted the exterior a couple times before hiring it out the last couple times… But there is tons of stuff in the garage… Have to rent a POD ro maybe fit it all in…

Nope, just finish the master bath.

27

A lifetime supply… At worst, if it isn’t a totall match I can repaint the whole room!

I have a whole shelf full of that. Aqua, green, brown, wheat, gloss white, satin red, peach, and a bunch more. Also stains of various flavors. The best thing I could do would be to take it down to the hazmat drop off and get rid of it, but as soon as I do that, a week later I will need one of them. And no, no one can ever match the same shade, I don’t care what they say.

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28

Well, this is a stock KM color, I’d taken a pic of the can during the remodel, KM4550 Cafe’ Latte, and they earlier had shown me the color chip, before I ordered it a couple weeks ago… So we also knew what the tint base was, the 1650 Semi-Gloss that was in short supply then… So it should all work out OK…

The other 4 gallons, they just ate, their mistake, and we got the right one for the job, it was in the kitchen/family room, a definite shift and we had the chips for the right stuff, and our painter friend, Ben, just handled it… repainted the whole room all over again… ben painted nearly all the rest of the home, trim & new crown molding, but the 2 baths, master BR had been done earlier, after the bath remodels…

such fun…

29

The garage is all drywalled, but that would be a nightmare to empty all the shelving

Do you do your own drywalling?

I need a partition wall built in the master bdrm to isolate the double sinks. (900 sq ft bdrm)

I had a carpenter come look at it to give me a bid, but it’'s been nearly a month. Common story these days… they show up once and never come back.

30

And no, no one can ever match the same shade, I don’t care what they say.

We have found our Lowes to do an exceptional job with color matching. In a rental there have been several times at turnover where we need paint to fix this scratch, that drywall fix. You do need a large enough chip to get a good color read, however.

IP

31

Do you do your own drywalling?

Yes, I did that back when we moved here in 1974! :slight_smile: It was a bare garage, open studs… so I did it beyond where the builder had done the required 3/4" fire resistant drywall on the living area walls, attic… But, since then I’ve added workbench, deep shelving to walls, raised the floor for a laundry room at the home level, eating up some of the 2 car garage space… Steel shelving, and a steel cabinet eat space, too…

I actually built a 16x24 shop in the side yard in the '80s, so not only drywall, but insulated it, siding, electrical, poured the slab after digging the foundation, even roofed it with the help of a HS buddy…

So whatever needed doing, got done mostly by myself, but lately, I leave it to contractors, herd them as needed… fix their screwups, as needed…

Tough to find someone to do small jobs, many small contractors are overwhelmed, maybe can’t get the helpers they need… Good luck!

weco

32

Somebody put a RUSTY cast iron skillet out by the dumpster.

Lodge, 12 inch. Amazon and Walmart have it for $25 preseasoned.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lodge-Pre-Seasoned-12-Inch-Cast-I…

I think I can clean it up.
It appears to be surface rust. I did a couple strokes with a wire brush, which knocked a lot off.

This site has instructions.
https://www.southerncastiron.com/how-to-fix-rusty-cast-iron/…

I spent $10 for the supplies.
The labor better not take more than 10 minutes, or, I’ll be in the red on this one!

:alien:
ralph tackles big projects!

1 Like
33

I would think wire brush or steel wool. Scrub it clean, do a dry brush to get any metal bits from your steel wool or wire brush, towel it out (same reason), and season it. Should work.

34

I found a 12" Cabella that looked like it was left outside, at the flea market, pretty rusty… Like this one, but older…
https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/bass-pro-shops-lodge-12-cast…

Anyway, scrubbed it, no cracks, so I used a wire wheel on the outer surfaces, then a 4" random orbital disk sander with various grits to take it down to flat, smooth… Then looked up the various seasoning oils, heats, ate up some KW, but it’s been a great CI pan since…

Worth saving, better than new… We use an older no-name 10" day to day, but good to have a couple…

35

I’m not a fan of Lodge cast iron. I don’t like the rough surface. I prefer the older cast iron with a smooth surface. Actually, I prefer to use carbon steel pans over cast iron.

PSU

36

We have two CI pans. One has grill bars, and is rough. The other is flat and smoother. 1poorlady uses the latter some (I keep trying to get her to get rid of the former as we never use it, but she refuses).

However, we have a set of West Bend steel pans and skillets. We use those most of the time.

37

I’ve tried steel pans, but just never liked them, the cast iron, thicker, even heat great for omelets when I was doing them, backed off lately but I got rid of the steel skillets… Other pans, I’ve a couple I use for boiling eggs, soups, but a Hot-Pot has taken over some things, or an air fryer…

Mom had what must have been a 14 or 16 inch cast pan she used for nearly everything, fried chicken, rabbit, venison, liver n onions, but I think when she passed Dad must have tossed it, as it wasn’t around when he passed… Or my middle brother absconded with it… She’d been a trail cook in Montana, roundups, moves, so rarely used measuring cups, just knew how much if this or that, always gravies, looking back, it’s surprising we survived without clogged arteries, but it was so tasty, fresh baked bread, cookies, it all was there… But I only know about the late '40s onward, how it was before, was pretty rough at times I guess…

Anyway, only a couple cast iron pans here, used regularly…

1 Like
38

Just to be sure you know what I was talking about. I like carbon steel pans, not stainless steel or other forms of steel. They are heavier than stainless steel but not as heavy as stainless steel. They are smooth on the inside and outside. You season them just like you season cast iron. After enough seasoning, they become nonstick like cast iron.

https://madeincookware.com/products/blue-carbon-steel-frying…

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39

Follow up. :sun_with_face:

I wire brushed it and got 95% of the rust off.
I soaked it in the 1:1 vinegar to water solution for 15 minutes at a time, wire brushed it, soaked, scrub, repeat… about 6 or 7 times.
The vinegar solution worked very well.

Rust is NOT water soluble.

Online says that the rust (FeOOH) reacts with Vinegar (CH3COOH) to form Fe(CH3COO)3 which is water soluble.
https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/71962/why-do-v…

After the final soak, I scrubbed the pan all over, inside and out with the wire brush.
It looks great!

I washed it in soapy water, dried it, and then heated it on a burner, til the handle got warm… and stuck it in the oven.
After it cooled so I could handle it, I rubbed it all over with flax oil.

I’m not going to season it (heat the oven and house for an hour!)… until 1) I need it, or 2) the weather cools off, or 3) some other excuse.

I have an old “smooth” cast iron skillet, for my use.
I don’t really need or want this one.

Why did I pick this up?
There’s a thread on ??board about working and being satisfied with the job, the pay, the effort, the time spent, etc.

This “job” didn’t pay me anything, but I get a great deal of satisfaction from the activity and the success.

Who knows, I may drop it off at Salvation Army or St Vincent DePaul.

I agree with PSU about Lodge and “rough surface”.

:sun_with_face:
ralph

2 Likes
40

1poormom had cast aluminum pans. After years of uses, there were becoming pitted. I still wonder about Al in my food growing up, and the links between Al and ALZ (dementia). :frowning:

I find the CI to be difficult to use compared to the steel. And I try not to use coated pans anymore (non-stick) since the coating eventually fails, and I wonder what was getting in my food (since it lost its non-stick properties).

1poorlady uses the CI a bit. In fact, it’s on the stove right now. I’m not sure what she has planned for it. She lasted used it to do steak (with rapid butter basting).

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