Best. Tape. Ever.

I won! Before the Christmas break, I won one of the lovely DIY Network tape measures. With the holiday, I didn't have much time to use it until recently.

In short, it's the best tape I've ever owned. Good extension, glides in and out of the housing like silk, and the double-sided numbers are a nice feature. It'll get its real test in April at the 2009 Habitat for Humanity East Bay build-a-thon. (This year's goal is to frame 20 houses in 4 days; I think the most we've done before is 10.) But so far, I'm lovin' it. Thanks to the folks at One Project Closer and at DIY Network for the contest. You can get one of the tapes (without the DIY Network logo) for yourself at Amazon or your local home improvement store.

On the less impressive end of the tool spectrum, I had my second Powershot stapler die. The concept is great -- put the end of the release lever over the staple exit to maximize pressure where it's needed -- and that part works well. But the ruggedness just isn't there. The first stapler died on one of the Mexico mission trips; the roof crew tried to load staples the wrong way and jammed it up. Its replacement died the other day, when the clip that holds the staples in broke. It can still be used with some tape to hold the clip in, but that doesn't work very well in the long term. Even before it broke, it had a tendency to jam, particularly when nearing the end of a clip of staples. The reviews on it at Ace and Amazon indicate I'm not the only one disappointed in its performance.

My new favorite tool

Petzl Tikka Plus LED Headlamp

from the why-didn't-I-think-of-this-before department

I'd been mulling over a new work light of some sort. We have a collection of flash lights, I've got a drop light on an extension cord, and even a blindingly bright halogen work light. They each work for different situations, but none is that great for working under the house, and lately I've been spending a lot of time there. I was considering a a Stanley tripod flashlight, or maybe a Dewalt 18v area light, but the basic problems with any of them is that one's (in my case, fat) head gets in the way of the light when you're working up between the floor joists, and if you need to look anywhere else, you need to move the light.

So back during our trip to King's Canyon NP back in October, someone in the neighboring campsite had a headlamp. We have a rechargeable fluorescent light we use for reading in the tent, and a classic Coleman lantern for cooking and eating dinner, but K and I admired the headlamp for cooking. At some point much later, a light went on (so to speak) for me: that would be perfect for working under the house. So yesterday after apheresis at the Red Cross, I trundled over to REI, and with the help of an associate (one of the great things about REI is that they use the outdoor gear that they sell so they know it), picked out the Petzl Tikka Plus LED Headlamp.

It's marvelous. Today I installed some more insulation, and then worked on running new wiring for the carport light. While it's still a pain in the butt to get into some of the tighter spaces under the house, the headlamp made it much less claustrophobic, and made me much more efficient because I wasn't always moving the flashlight around to point where I was looking. With the headlamp, I just looked, and there was the light. Turn my head to look for a dropped screw, and there was the light again.

It was magic. So why didn't I think of this a long time ago?

Got Junk? Not any more!

We've had junk in the carport for a long time. And outside my office window. And even some by the basement door left from replacing the corroded plumbing. Then there's the stump that Edis and I dug out ages ago. Katarina has been very patient with living in a construction zone, but the piles of junk were starting to get to both of us. To top it off, the pile in the carport meant we couldn't get to the shed where our bikes are stored. Warm weather and $4 a gallon gas has us thinking about riding again.

Given my upcoming Habitat trip to Biloxi and ongoing recovery from tendinitis, bronchitis, and rhinitis (allergies), Katarina suggested hiring someone to haul the junk away. The cheapest option would be renting a truck, hauling the junk myself, and driving it to the transfer station and unloading, but by far the most work. I did some checking, and for the same price as a 14-yard dumpster (the smallest they said I could put construction debris in) from Waste Management where I hauled everything up to it, I could get a 3-yard truck from 1-800-got-junk? where they did all the work. A no-brainer decision...assuming I had 3 cubic yards or less of stuff. I knew I had about that much in the carport, but there was also the old drywall outside my office and the stump. I decided to go for it, and see how much was left afterwards.

The service from 1-800-got-junk? was great. Easy to book on their website and choose a 2-hour window on the day of my choice, and they said they'd call about 30 minutes before arriving. Given how well various utilities and delivery services do with time windows, I had low, nay, rock-bottom expectations on the timing. I was shocked to have the phone ring exactly 30 minutes before the expected window, saying they'd be there in 25-30 minutes. Which they were. Listening, SBC/AT&T?

Per their website, I just pointed at what I wanted hauled away, and they did the work. Well, except for the stump. I suspected it might be too heavy for them to move up to the carport (that's why it'd been sitting there), and it was. So my work consisted of taking an ax and a construction bar to it to break it up into manageable pieces. It'd been sitting there long enough (12+ years in the ground, 2+ years on the front path) that I could break it into 4 easier pieces.

Not the cheapest option, but great service, and they recycle what can be recycled (generally up to 60% of what they haul; probably less than that of our load because I'd already recycled most of what could be). I highly recommend them if you can't haul stuff yourself.

Behold the amazing power of goop!

I've written about Orange Goop before. It's a wonderful citrus-based hand cleaner with pumice for getting gunk off your hands. I discovered recently it's also got other uses. I Googled around for ways to remove sticker residue, because our wonderful new toilet had some on the top of the tank from a sticker extolling its virtues. Several sites suggested citrus-based cleaners, so I smeared a little Orange Goop where the sticker had been, waited 15 or 20 minutes, and the sticker gunk came off easily with a fingernail and damp sponge. Voilà!

Now if it could just do something about the drain in the laundry sink. Katarina did a load of laundry yesterday, and the laundry sink filled and didn't drain. Besides tying the drains in the addition into the main sewer line, I haven't done much with existing DWV pipes, but I guess I'll have to...

Stuff That Just Works

Every once in a great while, you find a product that just works. There aren't that many relative to the millions upon millions of products that Madison Avenue tries to entice us to buy. But one thing that just works, yet I've never seen an ad for is Orange Goop. It actually lives up to the claim of "gets hands dinner table clean", even with grease (from the jackhammer), latex paint, and just plain old dirt. I first learned about it at Habitat for Humanity, where you can end up with a variety of different substances on your hands at the end of the day.

The term "Madison Avenue" makes me wonder. Is it still the center of advertising media in the U.S.? You hear about it in old movies like Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948), with Cary Grant and Myrna Loy. It was a must-see given this project, though he doesn't do any actual building, just pays (and pays and pays) various contractors to do the work. But that was almost 60 years ago, and things do have a way of changing. I'd guess that even if it is still the center of advertising, most people these days wouldn't have the slightest idea what you were referring to. Makes me feel old, *sniff* and I'm not even 40 yet.

Today was a quieter work day. No Naun, I worked more slowly, and not on the addition at all. We have a hot tub, but we haven't used it since the California "energy crisis" when electricity rates shot up, i.e., Enron and friends milked CA for all they could get. Katarina realized that my back would probably appreciate the hot tub every now and then during this project. We decided it was time to fill it again, so Kat started by cleaning it. But at some point I got it in my head to rotate it 90', partly to reposition the cover and the seats, but also to give better access to the drain (which proved to be an issue when cleaning and draining it). So today I ran new wiring for the hot tub so the electrical could come into it in a different place, and built my first (and probably only) brick wall. Only, because I'm re-using some bricks that used to be part of the front walk, and because unreinforced masonry is just a bad idea for construction in earthquake country.

I think my body appreciated the semi-rest. Carrying the jackhammer to the car this morning to return it made me think it had grown much heavier during the night. I'm sure Naun felt fine this morning, even given that he worked incredibly hard yesterday, and started carrying a huge piece of concrete out from under the deck, hobbling along doubled over. No 'lift with the legs' there -- it made my back hurt just looking at it. I made him put it down, and I wheeled it out with a handtruck. Funny how a situation like that can inspire you to make yourself understood in another language.