First Construction Project

After telling my wife and kids for 16yrs that we would put a bathroom in the basement, I finally got that project done after the boys had moved out.

I picked a spot in what used to be our laundry/utility room. As you can see it was a pretty dark and dingy corner.

  I decided to put my toilet up off the floor, in order to both save money and avoid cutting the basement floor.  I started with a small sub floor  4ft X 8ft.

The toilet was raise to 24" from the floor, this allowed for proper flow in the sewer  I connected into. With it being so high I added a step in front of it. The toilet platform is 4ft X 4ft.

 I put in a wall mounted sink to save on money and room. The medicine cabinet was bought at a thrift store for $2.00.

My Dad and I went to Menards and picked up this door. The door was in the return goods area and marked at $30.00. Well Dad and I found a sales person and ask if they would take 15 for the door. The guy took out a marker and lowered it to $15.00 right then. We had a great time that day.

Here are a few pictures of when I was finished with it. All the decorating was done by my wonderful wife Tracy

I almost forgot that Tracy let me pick out the paint color, and the Pirates Theme. Making it a real man's bathroom.

I put this entire bathroom in for around $300.00.

Wood Working Vise

I saw this vise for under the work bench on line for $179.00  Well that would not do for me!!

I made my own vise for $25.00, For That price I went ahead and made a set of them. The only thing I wish I would have spent the extra money and used Acme All Thread instead of standard thread. This just means I have to crank it a few extra times.

Now I must admit that I have access to a lathe and mill, which made this quite easy for me to make. Main body of my vises are made from aluminum.  The handles and slide rods are made from cold roll steel

I made the slide device removable in case I ever need to replace the threaded rod.

 I will have to just put these away for a little while as of right now I don't have a shop to work in. Looks like that will be in Feb. Then I'm sure they will be great mounted under my work bench.

One of my 1st projects

  As I'm just getting started here is one of the first Christmas presents I made. My wife had a bench out in the yard with the Amish couple on it. The bench started to fall apart from the Iowa winters. As I was taking the garbage out one morning I saw the broken bench and the Amish couple in the trash. Well this gave me the idea for a Christmas present. I took the couple out of the trash and hid them away. I made the little bench and glued the couple on to it. This made for a great and sentimental present that she loved.

Getting Started

  This is my first post,  We will be talking about things that we can build ourselves instead of buying them. In these economic times everyone has items they need or just want.  Why not build these items at a much lower cost than retailers will sell them for. I have built presents for my family, special tools, exercise equipment, furniture, and storage spaces. Why pay $500 dollars for an Item that you can build yourself  for $200 or even $50 for an item that you could build for $20.