as some of you know me and the wife bought a little house for the budding family a few years back.. we've been slowly trying to redo everything since it was built back in the fifties...
the CAST IRON tub had jun 1951 stamped into the bottom... yeah... we are changing everything.. haha..
anyway.. we got the big parts mostly done.. kitchen, bath, new sheetrock all around, new windows.. blah blah blah..
mostly got little details left now..
I took the mantle down from the fireplace (a real one.. with a real chimney and all) It's made of 3/4 inch pine .. not just a mantle.. it comes down both sides and all that jazz.. I'll try and get some pics later sometime maybe. .. anyway..
so I took it all down to put new sheetrock up under it.. no problem..
refinished the wood to match the original hard wood floor.. that stuff is over an inch thick!.. serious hardwoord.. haha I couldn't cover it back up after I got the old carpet off of it.. so we refinshed that in the dining room/living room/hall...
anyway.. off topic..
I went to put the mantle back up... and ran into my first problem.. I had no idea where the original holes where for the big anchors.. didn't think to mark them and I replaced that peice of wood because it was warping.. so without just poking holes in the sheetrock till I found it I was screwed..
no problem.. I'll just drill some new holes and use masonry bolts to put it back.. right... WRONG!
First off... I had a long way to go.. so I needed some big loooong bolts.. 3/4 in wood, 1/2 sheetrock, 3/4 "50's style" (and probably asbestos laced knowing my luck) plaster, theeen you hit the bricks.. literally. I knew it was too much to wish to think I would hit the original hole.. and I figured I would just hit close enough to create a weak spot where I was putting the bolts... so I found a new, uncorrupted spot and went at it.... now chance says I had about a 10% chance of hitting the mortar.. but nope.. I hit the brick... and this was no normal brick.. this was 60 year old "built to withstand the german assualt" brick.. I drilled thru all the soft crap.. and thunk.. hit the brick... kept on drilling with my $8 guaranteed to make small work of anything masonry bit.. and for the next 10 minutes I proceeded to drill approx. 1/2 of 1/2 a centimeter... I'm serious.. it looked like a dimple in the brick... and this was a faily small hole I was trying to make.. can't remember the size.. but normal bolt sized ya know... like a fairing bolt for the busa... it wasn't like I was trying to put a 3/4 inch hole in the crap.
I tried different bits,, small bits.. cursing it,, praying.. and patience for about 4 afternoons after work for atleast 2 hours each night... and I was about 1/4 inch in... I needed to be about 3/4 min. and 1 inch to feel good about it staying put for life... this wasn't going to work.
So I start askign around right.. and I end up at the body shop where I work.. those guys can fix damn near anything it seems... I ask... and the guys just smiles and goes.. come check this out.. your gonna like this..
I didn't even know they made this type of thing.. but basically it's a nail gun.. powered by a .22 shell..
WTF??? isn't that the coolest thing ever..
so anyway he gave me everything I needed.. showed me how to work it... and I went home... armed for battle... literally.
I loaded the beyotch up and popped a level 3 load in it (level three was for concrete/block... level 4 is for steel!... it puts nails.. into steel!) popped a 4 inch long nail in barrel.. nto some wussy little finishing nail or any of that crap.. I mean a mans nail... about as thick as a fairing bolt... and the head is a bit bigger than a pencil eraser...
pressed it up to the wood.. and snapped the trigger..
"BAM!"
pulled it back... and the nail... oh my god guys.. the nail head was embedded into the 60yo 3/4 pine wood about 1/8th of an inch... It just drove a 4 inch nail thru 3/4 inch of pine board... 1/2 inch sheetrock, 3/4 inch plaster, and into brick... it went into the brick approx. 2 inches... after all that crap... and embedded the head into the wood!
I put two more nails in with it and had the same results.. BAM - BAM!
it's where it's supposed to be.. it won't move.. and I'm done.
I just used normal anchors for the leg parts cuz they won't have much weight on them... but the mantle could possible hold up some serious weight.. it's about 16 inches wide... so you could pile a bunch crap up on there ya know.. I'm not worried though.. It seems solid as a mofo.
I borrowed it again today to put up a really heavy damn mirror over the mantle (60 inches, by 44 tall) the same way.. frig that drilling into brick crap..
I cut, and drilled some 1 inch circles out of wood and used them to stop the nail from going all the way into the wall.. after I had the nail in I took a small wood chisel and split the spacer off of the nail... viola.. the nails were a little over 1/4 inch from the wall.. perfect for securely hangin the mirror..
you guys gotta get one of these things.. even if you'll never use it... it's just the shiit.. and they aren't even expensive.. like $40 for the whole set up.
I just D/L'ed this pic from google to show you the basics... the hammer is not needed... dunno what it's in the shot.. just push on the "stock" part at the back with one arm.... and hit the fire button after you get the barrel compressed back to where it will fire.
the CAST IRON tub had jun 1951 stamped into the bottom... yeah... we are changing everything.. haha..
anyway.. we got the big parts mostly done.. kitchen, bath, new sheetrock all around, new windows.. blah blah blah..
mostly got little details left now..
I took the mantle down from the fireplace (a real one.. with a real chimney and all) It's made of 3/4 inch pine .. not just a mantle.. it comes down both sides and all that jazz.. I'll try and get some pics later sometime maybe. .. anyway..
so I took it all down to put new sheetrock up under it.. no problem..
refinished the wood to match the original hard wood floor.. that stuff is over an inch thick!.. serious hardwoord.. haha I couldn't cover it back up after I got the old carpet off of it.. so we refinshed that in the dining room/living room/hall...
anyway.. off topic..
I went to put the mantle back up... and ran into my first problem.. I had no idea where the original holes where for the big anchors.. didn't think to mark them and I replaced that peice of wood because it was warping.. so without just poking holes in the sheetrock till I found it I was screwed..
no problem.. I'll just drill some new holes and use masonry bolts to put it back.. right... WRONG!
First off... I had a long way to go.. so I needed some big loooong bolts.. 3/4 in wood, 1/2 sheetrock, 3/4 "50's style" (and probably asbestos laced knowing my luck) plaster, theeen you hit the bricks.. literally. I knew it was too much to wish to think I would hit the original hole.. and I figured I would just hit close enough to create a weak spot where I was putting the bolts... so I found a new, uncorrupted spot and went at it.... now chance says I had about a 10% chance of hitting the mortar.. but nope.. I hit the brick... and this was no normal brick.. this was 60 year old "built to withstand the german assualt" brick.. I drilled thru all the soft crap.. and thunk.. hit the brick... kept on drilling with my $8 guaranteed to make small work of anything masonry bit.. and for the next 10 minutes I proceeded to drill approx. 1/2 of 1/2 a centimeter... I'm serious.. it looked like a dimple in the brick... and this was a faily small hole I was trying to make.. can't remember the size.. but normal bolt sized ya know... like a fairing bolt for the busa... it wasn't like I was trying to put a 3/4 inch hole in the crap.
I tried different bits,, small bits.. cursing it,, praying.. and patience for about 4 afternoons after work for atleast 2 hours each night... and I was about 1/4 inch in... I needed to be about 3/4 min. and 1 inch to feel good about it staying put for life... this wasn't going to work.
So I start askign around right.. and I end up at the body shop where I work.. those guys can fix damn near anything it seems... I ask... and the guys just smiles and goes.. come check this out.. your gonna like this..
I didn't even know they made this type of thing.. but basically it's a nail gun.. powered by a .22 shell..
WTF??? isn't that the coolest thing ever..
so anyway he gave me everything I needed.. showed me how to work it... and I went home... armed for battle... literally.
I loaded the beyotch up and popped a level 3 load in it (level three was for concrete/block... level 4 is for steel!... it puts nails.. into steel!) popped a 4 inch long nail in barrel.. nto some wussy little finishing nail or any of that crap.. I mean a mans nail... about as thick as a fairing bolt... and the head is a bit bigger than a pencil eraser...
pressed it up to the wood.. and snapped the trigger..
"BAM!"
pulled it back... and the nail... oh my god guys.. the nail head was embedded into the 60yo 3/4 pine wood about 1/8th of an inch... It just drove a 4 inch nail thru 3/4 inch of pine board... 1/2 inch sheetrock, 3/4 inch plaster, and into brick... it went into the brick approx. 2 inches... after all that crap... and embedded the head into the wood!
I put two more nails in with it and had the same results.. BAM - BAM!
it's where it's supposed to be.. it won't move.. and I'm done.
I just used normal anchors for the leg parts cuz they won't have much weight on them... but the mantle could possible hold up some serious weight.. it's about 16 inches wide... so you could pile a bunch crap up on there ya know.. I'm not worried though.. It seems solid as a mofo.
I borrowed it again today to put up a really heavy damn mirror over the mantle (60 inches, by 44 tall) the same way.. frig that drilling into brick crap..
I cut, and drilled some 1 inch circles out of wood and used them to stop the nail from going all the way into the wall.. after I had the nail in I took a small wood chisel and split the spacer off of the nail... viola.. the nails were a little over 1/4 inch from the wall.. perfect for securely hangin the mirror..
you guys gotta get one of these things.. even if you'll never use it... it's just the shiit.. and they aren't even expensive.. like $40 for the whole set up.
I just D/L'ed this pic from google to show you the basics... the hammer is not needed... dunno what it's in the shot.. just push on the "stock" part at the back with one arm.... and hit the fire button after you get the barrel compressed back to where it will fire.
