Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT The Texas Barn in PA

madison069 · Apr 24, 2026

New liner dropped in place.

Added water to push the liner in place better and set some extra liner in the bottom for the rocks so the fishes can swim around something. Then got the fishes back in the pond.

Placed some rocks on top and got the net back in place. It needs some more water to get to the top, along with some more rocks from the hillside. Going to improve the look of the pond with a more uniform rock type instead of blocks and what not thrown in the mix of rocks. Will have to go back and bring down more rocks from the hill side and fill it up more another day.

The water should clear up over the weekend since we also clean the water fall of the thick stuff. So we essentially stirred up some sediment/fish poop doing that and some of it got in the pond. Usually it’s better to leave some of the stuff in the water fall to keep the pond healthy. Along with the water is spring water that comes off the hillside instead of chlorinated water.

Lot of work but hopefully it’s trouble free for a while.

madison069 · Apr 26, 2026

More rocks from the hill side and carefully placing them to ensure stable rocks gave us this result.

I also redid the electrical outlet for the waterfall as it was questionable and not working all the time. A new GFCI outlet and a nice cover wrapped that part up.

Now to tinker around my place.

madison069 · Apr 26, 2026

Some progress was made in the garage, not a lot but some.

First thing I did was got the drill press head back up after I had put the drill press back on the rolling platform. Kmart bottle jack made easy work of lifting that head back up!

Then I rolled this cart over to the wall.

I emptied this toolbox out into the US General toolbox and started working on the bottom roller but ran out of steam.

I also needed to order some liner for the bottom drawers of the US general toolbox. So hopefully th liner come tomorrow.

Other then that, just been doing little stuff around the house since the pond is semi done.

madison069 · Apr 27, 2026

One of the thing that has been unfinished is the gas and water connection. Still haven’t done it but I went ahead and back filled the hole and also installed a vault box for the water line hookup. Eventually the copper line coming out of the house will also go down into the box where it will connect to the pex line. I also need to put a mount on the wall to hold the gas line stable. Eventually I’ll connect these lines, but that’s a project for a weekend.

Backfilled with some dirt and after the rain that’s coming the next few days, I’ll level the dirt and put some grass seed and seed starting mulch down.

Othe, then sort the garage some more, tossed trash out for trash night, and put stuff in their respective places such as bunker or attached garage that been it today. Rain coming soon made me want to cut the yard.

madison069 · Apr 28, 2026

With the recent purge of the shed I have finally transferred the fuel, propane, white gas, and any tanks that was holding gas into the shed.

This shed is on the list of things to repair. Due to being grandfather in, I am being forced to “Repair” what’s there instead of replacing the whole shed if I want to keep a shed in this location of the property.

Apparently I’m low on gasoline so I’ll be sure to fill up the gas cans and put them in this shed soon to add more fuel to the fire!

larry4406 · Apr 28, 2026

What constitutes a shed repair?

Replace everything one by one over a period of time and next thing you know its almost newish?

madison069 · Apr 28, 2026

larry4406 said:
What constitutes a shed repair?

Replace everything one by one over a period of time and next thing you know it’s almost newish?

Basically.

The plans are to level the shed, replace any rotting wood of the frame, possibly replace the floor, and replacing the siding with vinyl to match the barn. Oh and build new doors. Then I’ll redo the shelves inside the shed to work better for what I want to store in there.

The shingle was replaced roughly 6 years ago. The sheath is stained from the water but it’s not soft so it wasn’t replaced. Most likely I’ll clean the inside and paint it all white, or gray, or whatever left over paint I have in my paint collection. Most likely gray like the interior of the barn.

madison069 · Apr 28, 2026

Neighbor left notes on my bushes.

She always argues with my wife when my wife cuts these bushes. Then in the same breath she will say “yes they are your bushes, but I want them 6ft tall!”

Long term plans are to rip all of the bushes on this side of the property and install a 6ft tall fence. Maybe I’ll rip them out early this way there’s no more issues about cutting the bushes?

gearhead1960 · Apr 28, 2026

You should cut them to the ground and then leave them laying there for a couple of weeks just to remind the neighbor who they belong to…

Nothing like being a little passive aggressive…

madison069 · Apr 28, 2026

gearhead1960 said:
You should cut them to the ground and then leave them laying there for a couple of weeks just to remind the neighbor who they belong to… Nothing like being a little passive aggressive…

Thought about it.

This is one of the neighbors that gave me some grief at the beginning of the barn build. Then the next day ask for dirt.

But I’ll most likely be handling those bushes myself and just trim the side of the bushes for now.

As much as I would like to be the *******, I still need to somewhat play nice with her as I would like to do the fence project and keep her in check with her complaints to my boss. I work for the municipality, so the neighbors have already bitched about me to my boss and his boss regarding the barn. I got no complaints from the boss, but I’d like to stay out of their hair.

gearhead1960 · Apr 29, 2026

madison069 said:
Thought about it.

This is one of the neighbors that gave me some grief at the beginning of the barn build. Then the next day ask for dirt.

But I’ll most likely be handling those bushes myself and just trim the side of the bushes for now.

As much as I would like to be the *******, I still need to somewhat play nice with her as I would like to do the fence project and keep her in check with her complaints to my boss. I work for the municipality, so the neighbors have already bitched about me to my boss and his boss regarding the barn. I got no complaints from the boss, but I’d like to stay out of their hair.

Yeah, the other boss (SWMBO) would not like it if I did that intentionally. My neighbors are all good. As a matter of fact the ones on either side of me are shooting buddies. Wouldn't want to piss them off....might find some lead coming my way. We all joke that if the Chinese invade, our little court would put up a valiant fight....

madison069 · May 1, 2026

Progress in the barn.

Lots of empty totes, moved a bunch of cabinets around, got all of the craftsman toolboxes emptied, and made a mess but there’s space to walk around now. I’d like to get rid of the open shelves but need to shift through that stuff to figure out what stays and goes.

The black totes are all empty for now.

Some stuff that’s up in the air over here in front of the camaro.

The mowers will be disappearing soon I hope.

All of these are empty.

Now the fun begins, trying to find where I put everything!

OutlawDrifter · May 2, 2026

Making progress, Cody!

madison069 · May 2, 2026

OutlawDrifter said:
Making progress, Cody!

My wife walked in last night and said it looks better in there. She apparently had doubts about me being able to organize it and clear it out.

This morning she asked when can she park in the attached garage. I said one thing at a time!

madison069 · May 2, 2026

Just been putting stuff away in the yard, tossing stuff in the trash can for trash day, and cleaned the exterior of the truck. Had a lot of mud in the bed of the truck so I pulled the bed mat out and pressure washed it. Even pressure washed the outside.

I got some rust forming in the bed’s wheel well that I need to see about fixing soon.

madison069 · May 3, 2026

Upcoming fishing trip has me getting the boat ready for the trip to the river. One of the nagging thing that popped up was some of the lights weren’t working.

So I finally dug into it and found the wire was corroded inside the insulation.

Got it twisted together to test and now the lights worked.

After cutting each of those connections out and installing butts with heat shrinks that has glue in them, they now all worked.

It’s weird how they all changed color on the insulation where the copper was corroded inside.

I’m wondering if I just got them too hot and the insulation failed or was there a weep in the connection that the liquid electrical tape didn’t cover?

I’m open to alternatives that would provide a better connection that’s water tight cause these only lasted 4 years.

madison069 · May 5, 2026

Fishing was nice, wind was blowing 30mph, river current was moving fast, and fish was slow to bite. But it wasn’t work.

I did catch a 13inch small mouth bass, buddy caught a 19.5inch small mouth bass.

My little bass

When we finally got off the river I was going over the boat making sure I got everything stowed away and strapped down. That’s when my buddy said there sure is a lot of water coming out of the middle of the boat. I got down and under the boat and that’s where I found the leak.

Apparently the boat must of been over afew inches and was hiding this old repair job when I first started looking for it. Seems there is a crack that’s roughly 13 inches long and all that’s on it is what looks like 5200 marine sealant. Looks like I’ll be doing a repair job on the boat soon. I might have to take it back to a lake or river and push the boat over a few inches more to give me room to work on the repair. Not sure when I’ll do it but we will see.

Then I came home and cut the grass, spread some of the topsoil. Then I put seed and some seed starter down on the bare area.

Used up about 2-3ton of the dirt pile.

Now it’s time to crack a cold one and sit on the porch.

madison069 · May 7, 2026

I hate hanging doors that’s not in a pre-hung door frame. No matter what I do, my hinges installation are never “perfect”. They are usually always off, but close enough that they work.

The door between the attached garage and the house was damaged by the previous tenant. Due to the door was ripped off the bottom hinge, it made opening and closing this door very difficult. Along with the door side of the hinges were busted off the door, the screws on the frame side of the hinges were loose due to the holes were wallowed out and some damage to the frame. Due to the kids heights were recorded on the door frame, it made it important to keep the door frame.

So off we go to get a new solid door to install. Oh did I mention this door way isn’t 30” or 29” wide? It’s 29 3/4” wide, meaning I have to take a 30” door and narrow the door by 1/4”. Along with the door is only 78” tall, so I had to cut the door down to 77 5/8” tall to allow a door seal on the bottom.

After carefully measuring the dimensions, I narrowed and shorten the 30”x80” door. Then I measured the locations of the hinges. As I mentioned, the holes and frame was damaged on the door frame side where the original hinges were located. So I relocated the hinges and also installed a third hinge in the middle since this is a solid wood core door. No pictures cause I was hyper fixated on getting this right as I always sucked at doing this in the past. Using one of those hinge tool that cuts the hinge outlines in the frame and door, I got the hinge area scored and then using a chisel, I slowly cut the depth out. Then I installed the door in the frame and then marked the location of the door handle to the original door frame catch plate to make sure I had the new holes lined up properly. Then after cutting the door knob holes out and installed the new door handle, I was able to call it a success.

This room will get a makeover and I’ll take the time to clean the door frame up, patch the old hinge location smooth, and replace the door trim as it got busted due to the old door was hitting it every time the tenants were opening and closing the door. I also want to install some trim on the door to fancy it up some instead of being a solid flat door. I have weather striping to install but I’ll wait til we paint the frame and then I’ll install the weather striping.

Oh and now my wife can park her car in the garage and come into the house without fighting the door every time she comes home.

To think, a minivan used to be parked in this garage but it sure does seem tighter in there with the outback in the garage.

gearhead1960 · May 7, 2026

The outbacks have grown enough, they’re as long as some of the older minivans.

madison069 · May 8, 2026

gearhead1960 said:
The outbacks have grown enough, they’re as long as some of the older minivans.

It appears that's the case with this outback. The height also seems to be the same too!

madison069 · May 11, 2026

The weekend was mostly basketball tournament, yard cleaning, tree trimming, bush trimming, and house cleaning. I did get some organizing done in the garage but mainly just cleared off bench top and sort through stuff.

One of the thing I got out was the new ultrasonic cleaner I bought while at the other garage. It’s big!

I put the old harbor freight sonic cleaner inside it for size comparison.

I haven’t filled it up yet but I’ll get it filled up soon.

Then my scrap guy called and asked if I was interested in some lawnmowers. When he sent photos of the mowers I saw these two outboard motors. Well they interested me enough to inquire about them and we struck a deal.

The 1946-1947 Sears Elgin 2.5hp motor

The Montgomery Ward 3hp Sea King outboard engine.

And the bundle of mowers.

Perfect timing cause my father in law needed another mower, so I’ll be back to working on small engines here soon. Oh and a customer dropped off a generator that needs attention. So there’s that too.

madison069 · May 12, 2026

Happy to report that the fish pond is going along, the water has become clear, and the fishes are happy. They seem to like their rocks and terra cotta pipe.

I put these concrete pieces and blocks on Facebook and someone came and got them last night.

I cleaned the area up and spread some topsoil in this area to get the yard more level and sloped a little from the garage.

Maybe tonight I’ll get the rest of the dirt moved. A kid stopped by last night as I was finishing up and asked if I needed help. I told him if he can come back tomorrow I’ll be sure to have something for him to do. So we will see how it goes.

Oh and also got one of the craftsman toolbox stack sold. This one is now gone.

Now to sell one more stack and get the other stack back to a buddy of mine who originally gave it to me.

larry4406 · May 12, 2026

madison069 said:
Happy to report that the fish pond is going along, the water has become clear, and the fishes are happy. They seem to like their rocks and terra cotta pipe.

I put these concrete pieces and blocks on Facebook and someone came and got them last night.

I cleaned the area up and spread some topsoil in this area to get the yard more level and sloped a little from the garage.

Maybe tonight I’ll get the rest of the dirt moved. A kid stopped by last night as I was finishing up and asked if I needed help. I told him if he can come back tomorrow I’ll be sure to have something for him to do. So we will see how it goes.

Oh and also got one of the craftsman toolbox stack sold. This one is now gone.

Now to sell one more stack and get the other stack back to a buddy of mine who originally gave it to me.

Surprised someone picked up the concrete block rubble. What would it be used for other than landfill.

madison069 · May 12, 2026

larry4406 said:
Surprised someone picked up the concrete block rubble. What would it be used for other than landfill.

Fella said he was using it for fill on his property. He showed me pictures of some bigger concrete sections he had to bust up to be able to use it for fill.

I was happy to load it all up in the back of his explorer.

madison069 · May 12, 2026

With the recent acquired metal stock, I have been thinking about projects for the barn. Looking around I really didn’t have anything to cut metal with that can provide a square or angled cut for me that would be semi clean to weld. So I started looking for cold saws but they are just too pricey for a tool I might not use a lot. So opened my search for cut off saws and I found this Makita cut off saw that was in the box. I talked to the seller and he bought it new and used it for 2 projects before he put it back in the box with the unused disc.

Here is the box.

And the saw,

It came with 4 unused cut off discs that appeared to be made in USA and was either sold or made locally.

So far I only plugged it in to make sure it worked and it spun for awhile after I let go of the trigger so that’s a pretty good sign.

For $75 I thought I did good.

I also picked up 2 of these 2ft deep, 4ft wide, and 6ft tall cabinets for $60.

Those are photos from the ad, both of them are currently disassembled cause they relied on gravity to stay together and I knew they would fall apart during the drive home.

One of them will become my fishing gear cabinet, and the other will become car parts and similar stuff storage which would eliminate the need for the open shelves I was wanting to get rid of. Now to get rid of the open shelves and get these put back together and organize the place some.

madison069 · May 12, 2026

Oh and the kid was a big help with moving the dirt. We got the back yard covered with the topsoil, but due to it being more of a clay then organic, it was hard to move around when it was wet. I’m going to get some leaf compost from Public work and amend the topsoil with the compost.

fouckhest · May 13, 2026

Nice score on the saw and the cabinets!

Abrasive saws are great until you take on that big project with a lot of cuts....then they show their "dirty side," but used one for years, they certainly get the job done. I've been told by many during my car/fab project that good abrasives go a long way, at the recommendation of a few on here, I tried Benchmark, I have been very impressed, I'd recommend trying them for a chop saw wheel, I use their cut off disks and they perform much better than anything you get at lowes/HD/HF

Chop Saw Wheels | Free Shipping

Tackle big cuts with our Chop Saw Wheels. Designed for durability and clean, precise cuts in tough materials. Get yours today!

benchmarkabrasives.com

Also, they have a promo for "FREEMIX" you can get a free assortment of flap disks, which really are great

4-1/2" x 7/8" T29 Zirconia High Density Flap Disc - Mixed Grit 10 Pack (FREEMIX)

Benchmark Abrasives 4-1/2" X 7/8" T29 Zirconia High Density Flap Discs are manufactured using European zirconia cloth. Our mixed pack is a great opportunity for you to test our range of grits at an affordable price!

benchmarkabrasives.com

madison069 · May 13, 2026

fouckhest said:
Nice score on the saw and the cabinets!

Abrasive saws are great until you take on that big project with a lot of cuts....then they show their "dirty side," but used one for years, they certainly get the job done. I've been told by many during my car/fab project that good abrasives go a long way, at the recommendation of a few on here, I tried Benchmark, I have been very impressed, I'd recommend trying them for a chop saw wheel, I use their cut off disks and they perform much better than anything you get at lowes/HD/HF

Chop Saw Wheels | Free Shipping

Tackle big cuts with our Chop Saw Wheels. Designed for durability and clean, precise cuts in tough materials. Get yours today!

benchmarkabrasives.com

Also, they have a promo for "FREEMIX" you can get a free assortment of flap disks, which really are great

4-1/2" x 7/8" T29 Zirconia High Density Flap Disc - Mixed Grit 10 Pack (FREEMIX)

Benchmark Abrasives 4-1/2" X 7/8" T29 Zirconia High Density Flap Discs are manufactured using European zirconia cloth. Our mixed pack is a great opportunity for you to test our range of grits at an affordable price!

benchmarkabrasives.com

Thanks for the links! I need to gather up all of my abrasive discs and determine what else I should order. I know I need cut off wheels for the angle grinder.

fouckhest · May 13, 2026

No worries, the Zirconia flap disks are the way to go for sure

madison069 · May 13, 2026

fouckhest said:
No worries, the Zirconia flap disks are the way to go for sure

I see they have free shipping on orders that’s $100 or more, so

fouckhest · May 13, 2026

madison069 said:
I see they have free shipping on orders that’s $100 or more, so

.....I may or may not know that....there might be signs

Untitled by fouckhest, on Flickr

madison069 · May 15, 2026

Got most of the topsoil spread out and then I applied grass seed and then leaf compost.

Still got some topsoil to spread out. I’ll see if I can find any low spots in the yard and top them up before I just spread it all out.

larry4406 · Sunday at 8:03 AM

Are you gonna build a door for the bunker to keep critters out?

madison069 · Sunday at 10:05 AM

larry4406 said:
Are you gonna build a door for the bunker to keep critters out?

One of these days. Just been busy with other stuff right now.

madison069 · Tuesday at 4:29 PM

I think I got enough wood to build a bunker door.

It’s all maple with a few dimensional pine mixed in.

madison069 · Wednesday at 8:13 PM

Back when I was doing the liner replacement in the koi pond for the in laws, I found a surprise in the pond. Apparently there was a baby koi/goldfish that has somehow survived not getting eaten by the bigger Koi in the pond. When I found him he was buried in the muck in the bottom as I was scooping it up. At first I thought it was just something shiny in the muck but when I dug it out it was the baby fish.

So naturally my youngest wanted to take it home and we knew he would be eaten if I put him back in the cleaned pond with nowhere to hide.

So Oliver the gold fish came home.

His first tank was just a Pyrex bowl

Then I put him a plastic tote with the air bubbler.

Then while checking out the local Facebook page I saw a free pile on the side of the street ad and in the pile was a fish tank.

So since Oliver lived for a month almost now, I figured I’d treat him to a new home.

He seems to be happier as he swims around more then before, but Garold and Hailey the other cat is not impressed that they can’t pet Oliver.

Between 705 & 1200 SQ/FT The Texas Barn in PA

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