Whats Next?

Well its been a while but I am ready for my next post.

As life goes on things must change.  At this point I am getting back into handyman jobs. Since I have been active my whole life I need something more to do.
I have gotten most of the HONEY-DO's that my wife wanted done so not as much to do. We are traveling some but can't do that all the time as bad as we wish we could.

We purchased new washer and drier, the front loading kind, and quickly learned that it was hard for us old people to get the clothes out of them when they were on the floor so I built a drawer unit to place under them.

Can't say that is was an original idea (google is great) but I did modify it some.
The finished unit is approximantly 5 feet wide and 34 inches deep and just over 12 inches high.
I used a 2X6 framework with 3/4 inch MDF for the surfaces.
There are three 2X6 support frames (the front two are laid flat) so it is very strong.
The drier vent is close to the floor so I ran it under the drawer unit and up through the top surface.  The old drier sat on the left and the new one is on the right so the vent hose had to run for a short distance but a standard lenght hose worked just fine.
The drawers are 3/4 inch MDF with 1/2 inch plywood bottoms.  Even the fronts are 3/4 inch MDF.
I recruited my son-in-law to help drop it into place.  There is a clean out for the sewer in the wall on the left so I had to cut out so that it would clear the framing.  Now to access the clean out you can either remove the drawer or remove the entire unit which is quite a job.
As you can see I trimmed out the unit to give it a finished look.
The wife really  likes th eextra storage and the ease of access to the units.

Just a Handyman Blog

Jack of all trades and master of none.

I am wanting to help anyone who is or wants to be a do-it-yourselfer. 

As for my background, I was raised on a farm in western Kansas until I was 10, then we moved into a small town (2500 population) where my father worked for the city and was the local handyman.  

In those days there were few regulations and even fewer inspectors to follow up with them.

My father taught me how to work hard and do many things and do them correctly.

I remember reroofing houses, building fences and many other small jobs.  

He was also the go-to guy for plowing gardens as most people had rather large gardens and no power equipment to do the spring plowing.  Dad purchased a small walk behind tractor with a rotory plow attatched and hauled it in the back of his pickup all over town and to neighboring communities.

We would plow gardens and do odd jobs until he went to work at 3pm when I was out of school.

After I graduated from high school I went to a trade school to become an auto mechanic.  This was my chosen career for several years until I joined the Navy and became a SeaBee.

After returning from the service I turned wreches for a while then got into the construction feild, first as a laborer, then as a construction forman erecting steel buildings for farmers.

After a couple of years of this a friend suggested the we (yes I got married and am still married to the same woman after all these years) move to Colorado Springs where we have spend the last 43 years.  I started as a mechanic in a full service gas station before joining the Colorado Springs Fire Department which I have retired from after 28 years.

During my career as a firefighter I did a lot of handyman type jobs as well as proffesional photography.

For several years myself and another firefighter started and ran a construction company until it became larger that we could handle with our full time jobs.

After I retired we bought a small business of delivering dog and cat food to peoples homes.  We ran this business for 11 years and have now sold it and it still prospers here in Colorado Springs.