2nd Floor Addition

Above is an as-is floorplan of our home.

We just hired an architect, Robert Ridgley, to basically triple the size of our house. We'll be going from a 750 sq ft, 1 bed, 1 bath shack to a 2000+ sq ft mansion with 3 beds and 3 baths. The entire first floor will become living space, and the second floor will be for sleeping. We'll also push out into the backyard a bit to add a family room behind the kitchen, and knock down the wall between the kitchen and existing bedroom to convert the bedroom into a dining area. Below is the proposed floorplan.

Custom P-Trap

The kitchen sink was clogged and the plunger didn't help at all, so I decided to investigate. Where to start? Check P-trap of course. I got out my pipe wrenches, set them up on the nuts holding the trap, and barely torqued them before the entire trap just broke apart and fell off. We did the dishes in the backyard that night, with the garden hose.

Well the trap, although broken, was not clogged - which means the clog was still somewhere down the drain. After trying the snake with no luck, I cut open the wall to see what was down there. What did I find? Nothing. The snake goes about 6 inches into the concrete slab before sticking, and I couldn't get it to budge from there. I tried to dig up the drain pipe from outside the house, but hit more concrete; maybe the footer. At that point I was lost. Then I decided if I rebuild the trap and plug up the roof vent, I may still be able to plunge my way out of this.

This time I hit Lowe's instead of Home Depot to compare prices. Judging by their prices on copper pipe, there's not much difference. I picked up some ABS pipe and fittings and got to work. Looks like a mighty fine custom trap if you ask me. But I still have that clog...

521 1/2 Standard Street

I managed to build a dog house for Kali with a single 4'x8' sheet of plywood and a couple 8-foot 2x4's. I used a modified plan from the Wood Zone. I forgot to double-check the measurements before I went to Home Depot and realized the house would be too small her. So I did what any cheap miser would do: I modified the plan so that I could build a house without buying any extra wood. Kali has to do without an awning over her porch, but that's OK because she was never expecting one.

She's got about 34"x19" of sleeping area, plus a foot-long porch; sadly, not a whole lot smaller than our house. Hardware included it only put us back about $25, and should be just fine for a 40 lb. dog in L.A.

Once I was done with it, all it needed was a lady's touch. So Judie picked up some deck stain and turned that plywood shack into a beautiful Redwood chateau.