I will be finishing the work shop TODAY! The last day of 2007.
I am currently cleaning everything up and I have a good amount of free space for more stuff, but I hope I can keep everything tidy and not cluttered. In the process, I've uncovered a ton of treasures that have been buried for probably years. You can look to my other blogs to find out what they are and where they will be offered up so they can be used by someone... somewhere.
For 2008, the projects are still up in the air. There are a few other dynamics in play and I have to sit tight on the project list until a few of those settle down. The consequences on a couple of them can adversely affect things so... on the stool, I will twiddle my thumbs.
Everyone have a great New Years!
Monday, December 31, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Reworking the Blog
I will be revamping the layout of this blog for a little bit to get the feel right... as well as update some of the ad banners and such on the right. Bear with me... it shouldn't take (quite) as long as it takes me to tackle reconstruction projects on the house... =P
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Winter Project #1 - Renew the Shop
My shop is a mess. More so when one of the original cabinets began to deteriorate. So I began on renewing the shop a little. So far I have taken the cabinet down. Sounds simple, but for some reason, the previous owners of this house like to nail things to the excess... and in opposing directions. Great for keeping things up but bad for any tear outs. Sometimes, removal causes quite a bit of damage to the underlying structures. Anyway, I got all that down. I've also put up replacement open shelving. Very beefy to handle very heavy items. And open so I can see what's up there; 2X4 braces with 3/4" ply shelves. I also built them longer and gained additional storage. The decision to build it bigger was dictated by existing stud locations... which the previous cabinet did not. I am now in the middle of painting the shelves to match the rest of the shop - off white body with midnight blue stripe/accents.
Once the painting is complete, I will also be installing some pegboard and then reorganizing all of the tools and supplies. I hope it will all flow much better when I am done. It is a pretty tight space.
Once the painting is complete, I will also be installing some pegboard and then reorganizing all of the tools and supplies. I hope it will all flow much better when I am done. It is a pretty tight space.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Outsider's Eye
My parents finally popped in and got a look at the progress of my current home. They haven't seen it in a several years and back then, the kitchen had no walls and the entry ways were all covered in plastic sheathing. Before that, it was shortly after we acquired the house.
My wife was very happy to see my parents seemed to really like the house. I think for the first time, they understood what my wife and I can do; rip it down and put it all back together.
My little brother just bought his first house. We got a gander at it just after he took possession. It is a 1920's modified bungalow. It still has its original hardwood floors and an interesting walk-through bathroom between the two bedrooms. Kind of like some hotel suites. Anyway, it has some great potential to be a very nice home.
I brought that up because my parents commented on the hardwood floors in my home. The floors, and most of the original moldings and trim work, were all worn, faded and dried out in a lot of areas. Most people would throw their arms up and cover it all up/replace everything with paint, carpet or linoleum. Bad, bad, bad! My wife went around and found all of the bad areas in need of attention and then re-hydrated and re-stained-to-match all of the woodwork. Following this was applying the final topcoat to protect all of her work. I generally like to use brush-on polyurethane or spar varnish/urethane as I did on my previous home and the new mahogany exterior front and screen doors. She settled on Wipe-On Polyurethane. Wow! A lot of time consuming work, but the results are spectacular. 3 complete coats on the first floor and stairs and everything has shine and depth. My parents commented that my little brother should see our floors and follow suit with his own. To be honest, his floors are in much better condition than what ours were. At worst, have a crew come in and take the top layer off and lay down several fresh coats of polyurethane. And, as we did in our home, get some great rugs and lay them into the space. It will keep the beauty of the hardwood, absorb the sound and best of all add flavor to the rooms that can be changed around if needed. Actually, the best of all is that you take that investment with you when its time to go. Not so with the other alternative I heard getting thrown around... carpet.
Anyway, may parents liked the finished new kitchen and the (finished a couple of weeks ago) small bathroom. We took them around and showed them some of the art we have collected and our Persian "fish" rugs, etc. Overall, a big thumbs up.
My wife was very happy to see my parents seemed to really like the house. I think for the first time, they understood what my wife and I can do; rip it down and put it all back together.
My little brother just bought his first house. We got a gander at it just after he took possession. It is a 1920's modified bungalow. It still has its original hardwood floors and an interesting walk-through bathroom between the two bedrooms. Kind of like some hotel suites. Anyway, it has some great potential to be a very nice home.
I brought that up because my parents commented on the hardwood floors in my home. The floors, and most of the original moldings and trim work, were all worn, faded and dried out in a lot of areas. Most people would throw their arms up and cover it all up/replace everything with paint, carpet or linoleum. Bad, bad, bad! My wife went around and found all of the bad areas in need of attention and then re-hydrated and re-stained-to-match all of the woodwork. Following this was applying the final topcoat to protect all of her work. I generally like to use brush-on polyurethane or spar varnish/urethane as I did on my previous home and the new mahogany exterior front and screen doors. She settled on Wipe-On Polyurethane. Wow! A lot of time consuming work, but the results are spectacular. 3 complete coats on the first floor and stairs and everything has shine and depth. My parents commented that my little brother should see our floors and follow suit with his own. To be honest, his floors are in much better condition than what ours were. At worst, have a crew come in and take the top layer off and lay down several fresh coats of polyurethane. And, as we did in our home, get some great rugs and lay them into the space. It will keep the beauty of the hardwood, absorb the sound and best of all add flavor to the rooms that can be changed around if needed. Actually, the best of all is that you take that investment with you when its time to go. Not so with the other alternative I heard getting thrown around... carpet.
Anyway, may parents liked the finished new kitchen and the (finished a couple of weeks ago) small bathroom. We took them around and showed them some of the art we have collected and our Persian "fish" rugs, etc. Overall, a big thumbs up.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Small Bathroom Finishline... not so Smooth
The small bathroom is complete. Well, I still need to tap into place one of the pins for the supply closet door. I should get that in place tonight... a 5 minute job at most, right? Cross your fingers as things have blown up in my face before.
So yes, the small bath is essentially complete. But the road here was far from an easy stroll. Things that were left to do after all of the tile, trim and paintwork was some electrical (1 light switch and 1 GFCI), the plumbing, all of the fixtures and the medicine cabinet. It shouldn't be more than a day. Right?!
Late on a Saturday, I decide to take care of the electrical and follow up with the plumbing and other things the following Sunday. I spend about 30 minutes locating which circuit coordinates with the bathroom. Funny it is on the one that controls the living room, one plug in a 2nd floor bedroom and the light at the back door. Man, this house has some screwy things going on (but I already have an Electrician waiting in the wings to correct that craziness). Anyway, the light switch was cake. But the GFCI, which was replacing an old 2-prong outlet was not so kind. First off, when I pulled the outlet... 4 wires. Normally there are only 2 or 3 (with a ground). So this was rigged up in a series to some other "thing" in the house. Lovely. It took several tries until it was too dark to work. I was royally frustrated since I kept getting an open hot from the little tester. One set of wires was of a very heavy-gauge copper strand which made each attempt that much more difficult. The mounting screws for it didn't accommodate that gauge of wire very well. I left it. I get back to it on Sunday. I pull out the real tester and get to work. I figure out which set is hot and wire it up. Incidentally, it was the same as the first time I wired it up... but for some reason, it didn't quite resolve properly. The green light on the GFCI was lit. The test and reset buttons worked. 115V good to go. Still tested "open ground". I shrugged my shoulders and proceeded with shoving a GFCI outlet with 4 over-sized wires into an opening that barely fit the old outlet (almost half as deep). It took several tries with the large-gauge wires popping off several times to get it in... but I got it in. It isn't perfectly flush, but then again, nothing is in this house... 'cept the main foundation.
The following weekend, I start with the fixtures shortly after my run. I install the toilet. While tightening the bolts to the floor, I get a loud "pop" and the bolt I was tightening was really loose. D'oh! I eventually pull the toilet off the floor and I find that the replacement closet flange ripped itself right out of the mounting bolts holding it onto the floor. Ugh! I run all over the house to find a workable solution. I eventually find some counter-sunk finishing washers. I installed them and BAM! I was back in business. Well, sort of. I had to run to the local hardware box store to get a new wax seal. Scrape off the old, and now I was bolting the toilet down again. POP! Again?! I pull the toilet and the flange didn't pop, the bolt slipped out of the slot on the flange. A little readjustment and I bolted it down. I had a little doubt on the wax seal as I did not run to get another one. I finish installing the tank and all the innards.
I move on to the sink and pedestal. I leveled it out, marked the mounting holes and drilled for the cleats. I ran into something on one of the holes and was worried the mounting screw was too long. So... I cut one short. Mistake. I mounted the sink and the screw I cut off would not engage. So... off to the box 'ware store. I couldn't find the exact screw but found one very similar. I got home, and it worked fine. I quick put on the faucet and I moved onto the new supply valves.
I shut off all the water to the house and I start to install the new 1/4-turn valves for the toilet and the hot and cold water supplies for the sink. Off come the old valves and on with the new... on comes the water. Toilet, check. Hot supply line, check. Cold supply line, drip. Off goes the water. I redo the teflon tape and put it back on. Water on. Drip. I tighten the valve on more... more water. Off goes the water... I do this several times before I decide to really feel around. What I found was a near killer for the project. The back of the threaded portion of the iron pipe had corroded through; there was a clean cut on about half of the pipe. Very bad. I try to thread the valve on farther but it would not cover the break. I now had 2 choices. Either cut and re-thread the pipe or cut the all open and replace the entire supply line(s) with new copper.
That afternoon and evening, I visited several hardware store... all sizes. I was looking for a die that I could use to re-thread the pipe... on the wall. Most instructions I found had a pipe in a pipe vice and threading it with a giant wrench. Ho boy. The thread size was 3/8-18 pipe thread. Shouldn't be too hard to find... pretty common size... NOT! Every place we went, 1/2" pipe was all they had... if they even had any of the tools I needed. I was frustrated. And I went back on-line to find solace. On the web, I found only 2 places that carried pipe-threading dies... Sears and Harbor Freight. Sears tools were in the hundreds of dollars. HF was in the tens. So at about 9AM on Sunday, I was at the local HF. I picked up a set of dies with the 3/8" I needed. I got it home, opened the case and saw some GIANT tools. I grabbed my pipe cutter and some WD-40 and cut off the bad portion of the pipe. I then held the die up to the remaining pipe sticking out of the wall. The tool was not going to work. There was not enough pipe left to even give me hope that it would work. My heart sank. I put all the tools back into the case and made my way back to HF. It was 10AM.
When I got there, I returned the tool set. They had a set of just the dies for threading smaller pipes; 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2". I still needed to tool to hold the die, so I picked up a tool and die set just for the holder. I get home, open up the dies... perfect to do what I need. I crack open the kit... and the dies are tiny... and so are the holders. ARGH! Do I go in search of a holder that fits?! Not again. I sit and ponder for about 15 minutes staring at the 3/8" die. I get up and head for the garage to the bike tool box. Go HERE for the full story on this little ditty, entered Sunday 11-04 under the title, "Bike Tools to the Rescue".
In the middle of all that I did have to uninstall the sink, faucet and pedestal... and reinstall it all at the end. Fun. Onto the drain! I picked up a kit during one of my many trips to the box hardware store for the drain. White PVC with a trap and all that. I hold it up to the stem from the sink. Wrong side... too big. So another trip to get the right size. I begin to install. Behind a pedestal trying to go to the drain pipe in the floor is not fun. There was so much going on behind the pedestal without much room at all. I ended up having to get a "bendy" pipe to match up the pipes as well as reuse the rubber coupler to go from the white PVC to the metal pipe coming from the floor. That took the rest of the Sunday afternoon to finally tie up all the plumbing issues, but it was essentially done.
Late Sunday, I started to scheme on how to mount the medicine cabinet. The one we chose several months ago was heavy. Plus it was meant to be mounted into a hole in the wall, not surface mounted, like we wanted. I thought that attaching a ledge on the wall the bottom of the cabinet could rest on that with another "cleat" holding the top and a couple of screws through the back. The plan was on Monday to make the needed brackets. I worked through lunch and forgot to bring the aluminum L-channel back from the office. I was then "pushed" to work on the installation anyway. I got ticked, but went on with it. I pulled more L-channel from the garage and fabricated two brackets. I installed the lower bracket with 5 screws cleated to the wall. Solid. I ran through putting together the upper cleat in my head and realized it would not work the way I thought. So I stared at the cabinet for a while. Eventually, I put 4 holes into the back of the cabinet. I held the cabinet up against the wall and marked the location of each hole on the wall. Put the cabinet down, drilled the holes bigger for the cleats, inserted the cleats and crossed my fingers. I brought the cabinet into position and drove in the first screw. I hit the cleat! I proceeded and I hit all 4 cleats. I secured the cabinet to the L-channel as an added safety precaution. I checked level... and it was. I picked up all my tools and put them all away. It was after 10:30 at night and I did not have any dinner.
Tuesday I put in the TP dispenser and the towel rack.
I christened it the following Wednesday.
So yes, the small bath is essentially complete. But the road here was far from an easy stroll. Things that were left to do after all of the tile, trim and paintwork was some electrical (1 light switch and 1 GFCI), the plumbing, all of the fixtures and the medicine cabinet. It shouldn't be more than a day. Right?!
Late on a Saturday, I decide to take care of the electrical and follow up with the plumbing and other things the following Sunday. I spend about 30 minutes locating which circuit coordinates with the bathroom. Funny it is on the one that controls the living room, one plug in a 2nd floor bedroom and the light at the back door. Man, this house has some screwy things going on (but I already have an Electrician waiting in the wings to correct that craziness). Anyway, the light switch was cake. But the GFCI, which was replacing an old 2-prong outlet was not so kind. First off, when I pulled the outlet... 4 wires. Normally there are only 2 or 3 (with a ground). So this was rigged up in a series to some other "thing" in the house. Lovely. It took several tries until it was too dark to work. I was royally frustrated since I kept getting an open hot from the little tester. One set of wires was of a very heavy-gauge copper strand which made each attempt that much more difficult. The mounting screws for it didn't accommodate that gauge of wire very well. I left it. I get back to it on Sunday. I pull out the real tester and get to work. I figure out which set is hot and wire it up. Incidentally, it was the same as the first time I wired it up... but for some reason, it didn't quite resolve properly. The green light on the GFCI was lit. The test and reset buttons worked. 115V good to go. Still tested "open ground". I shrugged my shoulders and proceeded with shoving a GFCI outlet with 4 over-sized wires into an opening that barely fit the old outlet (almost half as deep). It took several tries with the large-gauge wires popping off several times to get it in... but I got it in. It isn't perfectly flush, but then again, nothing is in this house... 'cept the main foundation.
The following weekend, I start with the fixtures shortly after my run. I install the toilet. While tightening the bolts to the floor, I get a loud "pop" and the bolt I was tightening was really loose. D'oh! I eventually pull the toilet off the floor and I find that the replacement closet flange ripped itself right out of the mounting bolts holding it onto the floor. Ugh! I run all over the house to find a workable solution. I eventually find some counter-sunk finishing washers. I installed them and BAM! I was back in business. Well, sort of. I had to run to the local hardware box store to get a new wax seal. Scrape off the old, and now I was bolting the toilet down again. POP! Again?! I pull the toilet and the flange didn't pop, the bolt slipped out of the slot on the flange. A little readjustment and I bolted it down. I had a little doubt on the wax seal as I did not run to get another one. I finish installing the tank and all the innards.
I move on to the sink and pedestal. I leveled it out, marked the mounting holes and drilled for the cleats. I ran into something on one of the holes and was worried the mounting screw was too long. So... I cut one short. Mistake. I mounted the sink and the screw I cut off would not engage. So... off to the box 'ware store. I couldn't find the exact screw but found one very similar. I got home, and it worked fine. I quick put on the faucet and I moved onto the new supply valves.
I shut off all the water to the house and I start to install the new 1/4-turn valves for the toilet and the hot and cold water supplies for the sink. Off come the old valves and on with the new... on comes the water. Toilet, check. Hot supply line, check. Cold supply line, drip. Off goes the water. I redo the teflon tape and put it back on. Water on. Drip. I tighten the valve on more... more water. Off goes the water... I do this several times before I decide to really feel around. What I found was a near killer for the project. The back of the threaded portion of the iron pipe had corroded through; there was a clean cut on about half of the pipe. Very bad. I try to thread the valve on farther but it would not cover the break. I now had 2 choices. Either cut and re-thread the pipe or cut the all open and replace the entire supply line(s) with new copper.
That afternoon and evening, I visited several hardware store... all sizes. I was looking for a die that I could use to re-thread the pipe... on the wall. Most instructions I found had a pipe in a pipe vice and threading it with a giant wrench. Ho boy. The thread size was 3/8-18 pipe thread. Shouldn't be too hard to find... pretty common size... NOT! Every place we went, 1/2" pipe was all they had... if they even had any of the tools I needed. I was frustrated. And I went back on-line to find solace. On the web, I found only 2 places that carried pipe-threading dies... Sears and Harbor Freight. Sears tools were in the hundreds of dollars. HF was in the tens. So at about 9AM on Sunday, I was at the local HF. I picked up a set of dies with the 3/8" I needed. I got it home, opened the case and saw some GIANT tools. I grabbed my pipe cutter and some WD-40 and cut off the bad portion of the pipe. I then held the die up to the remaining pipe sticking out of the wall. The tool was not going to work. There was not enough pipe left to even give me hope that it would work. My heart sank. I put all the tools back into the case and made my way back to HF. It was 10AM.
When I got there, I returned the tool set. They had a set of just the dies for threading smaller pipes; 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2". I still needed to tool to hold the die, so I picked up a tool and die set just for the holder. I get home, open up the dies... perfect to do what I need. I crack open the kit... and the dies are tiny... and so are the holders. ARGH! Do I go in search of a holder that fits?! Not again. I sit and ponder for about 15 minutes staring at the 3/8" die. I get up and head for the garage to the bike tool box. Go HERE for the full story on this little ditty, entered Sunday 11-04 under the title, "Bike Tools to the Rescue".
They don't call me twirlyhead for nothing. This weekend, I had a mission to install my small bath and finish it up. All I needed to do was hook up all the plumbing and then address the medicine cabinet and viola! The king's throne is anew!! But a little snafu utilized my biking background into fixing my home. :D!
As I threaded on the new valve for the cold water, I noticed it was a little bit crooked. When I flipped on the water - drip, drip, drip. D'oh! So I tighten it, and it gets worse. I try it again but no dice. And again. I started to feel around an bit more and discover that the 97 year old iron pipe had given up. The back of the threads had split open at the thin spot. It was just getting worse the more I played with it. I came to the realization that I needed to go to the next step.
Choice: cut and rethread pipe or replace the old pipe with copper (which might entail a plumber). After a bit of pondering, I go out in search of an appropriate die set. I had already scanned the web for the pipe die I need... a 3/8" NPT pipe thread. Most kits I found for pipes started at 1/2" and went up. Home Depot... 1/2" dies. Menards... 1/2" dies and up. So I check the web and find only 2 places with 3/8"; Sears and Harbor Freight.
Sears... hundreds. HF... tens. After a rough night of sleep dreaming about sweating pipes and why iron pipe was a bit easier to deal with and ripping the wall open to replace it all and put in complete copper. I was at HF at 9AM this Sunday morning to pick up some dies. I picked up a large set and brought it home. The kit weighed a ton, but if it is what I needed to get the job done, that that was OK. Well, not really. Those things were HUGE. It was like a 3" ratchet with 50mm bits. I laid it aside for the time being and crossed the line of no return; I cut the pipe. I then held the die up to the pipe... and it was so big, I couldn't even get it onto the pipe to thread it. I made the wrong decision on the die kit. I needed a smaller set. Soooo... back to HF for a return. I instead picked up a much smaller tap and die set as well as a complete SAE/metric tan and die set. My assumption was that the handle in the kit could be used with the dies in the separate kit. No dice. The pipe thread dies were too big for what was included in the complete set. So now I had to improvise. I was tired of running around.
I came up with something to do the job. It entailed one of my, now not so used, Park bike tools. The HCW-5 Crank and Bottom Bracket wrench.The die has an alignment slot and two dimples on the outside of the body. So I started the first threads by hand to get a good alignment and then used the HCW-5 to hook the die and I spun it to start cutting the threads... similar to what the tool was suppose to do.
I didn't get a pic while working on the project but it worked great! Sink is all good to go! All I have to comment about is that is got harder and harder to keep pushing the thread. I'm glad it is done.
In the middle of all that I did have to uninstall the sink, faucet and pedestal... and reinstall it all at the end. Fun. Onto the drain! I picked up a kit during one of my many trips to the box hardware store for the drain. White PVC with a trap and all that. I hold it up to the stem from the sink. Wrong side... too big. So another trip to get the right size. I begin to install. Behind a pedestal trying to go to the drain pipe in the floor is not fun. There was so much going on behind the pedestal without much room at all. I ended up having to get a "bendy" pipe to match up the pipes as well as reuse the rubber coupler to go from the white PVC to the metal pipe coming from the floor. That took the rest of the Sunday afternoon to finally tie up all the plumbing issues, but it was essentially done.
Late Sunday, I started to scheme on how to mount the medicine cabinet. The one we chose several months ago was heavy. Plus it was meant to be mounted into a hole in the wall, not surface mounted, like we wanted. I thought that attaching a ledge on the wall the bottom of the cabinet could rest on that with another "cleat" holding the top and a couple of screws through the back. The plan was on Monday to make the needed brackets. I worked through lunch and forgot to bring the aluminum L-channel back from the office. I was then "pushed" to work on the installation anyway. I got ticked, but went on with it. I pulled more L-channel from the garage and fabricated two brackets. I installed the lower bracket with 5 screws cleated to the wall. Solid. I ran through putting together the upper cleat in my head and realized it would not work the way I thought. So I stared at the cabinet for a while. Eventually, I put 4 holes into the back of the cabinet. I held the cabinet up against the wall and marked the location of each hole on the wall. Put the cabinet down, drilled the holes bigger for the cleats, inserted the cleats and crossed my fingers. I brought the cabinet into position and drove in the first screw. I hit the cleat! I proceeded and I hit all 4 cleats. I secured the cabinet to the L-channel as an added safety precaution. I checked level... and it was. I picked up all my tools and put them all away. It was after 10:30 at night and I did not have any dinner.
Tuesday I put in the TP dispenser and the towel rack.
I christened it the following Wednesday.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
What a Holiday Weekend!
I did a lot this weekend... at least on Saturday!
I cut the lawn, cleared out the old "fort" that was built in the garage rafters prior to my ownership, cleared drains, tried to empty the truck, poured a new concrete slab, cut the trim for the small bathroom redo and spread a combo application of lawn care products. All that and a lot of maintenance stuff as well (laundry, grocery and supply runs, e-mail, etc.) plus entertain a guest on Sunday. Whew!
The original plan was to be entertaining visitors all three days, from my parents to out-of-town friends to local dinner gatherings to my wife's family. When everything settled, the only entertaining we did was the out-of-town friend... and ourselves. None-the less, we got an awfully lot done this weekend.
I started Saturday with my normal crack-of-dawn run followed by an attempt to unload the truck so I could do another filling of the bed. I drove to Pitsch wrecking to unload, but they were closed for the holiday weekend. D'oh! I've done this before for both Labor and Memorial Days. I should have learned this by now. So I drove back home and decided to overstuff the truck.
The grass was back with a vengeance with all the rain the past few weeks and it needed to be cut. I did so and found a way to get all the clippings into the back of the truck, still separated from the "junk" in the front of the bed. I mixed up the combo fertilizer made up of Scott's Plus2 and Haltz with the rest of my diazanon stash. This Plus2 provided anti-weed, Haltz crabgrass protection and the Diazanon kills every living thing in the soil... good and bad. I watered everything in good to get down deep. I really want to get all of the ants and grubs out... earlier in the week, my wife pulled up a chunk of grass only to uncover a lot of grubs happily chewing the roots. This is several weeks after the lawn service applied a good helping of GrubX... which apparently did not do its job.
As the sprinklers soaked all the goodness into the ground, I proceeded to tackle the garage fort. Talk about a lot of junk and nothing... it took several hours to get every piece down and all the nails hammered down. I managed to get it all into the back of the truck with the help of my trusty sawsall. Good ridden. There was some interesting objects up there amongst the walnut shells... a dated paper from the kid using the space... Bill Smolenski, 1975. Sweet line green and orange shag carpet. Interesting 12" X 12" multi-colored carpet tiles. A checkerboard with all the pieces.
I also junked a lot of building materials. A ton of oak trim I ripped out of my kitchen. Conduit from a previous owner. Wall track. Some curtain rods. Even a scary hook tool appropriate for Halloween!
The truck now sags a bit from all the wood and such but it will find its way to the junkyard in a few days :D.
While I was tending to loading up the truck, my wife began to rip out the threshold of the back door, which over the 100 years of its existence has eroded to a pile of splintered chunks. It did take me to hit it with the sawsall to get it all out. When she was done, she commenced with the cleanup of the driveway and garage. I think she covered the area with the little magnetic pick-up thing about a dozen times before she stopped picking up nails. What persistence! While she thoroughly combed the area, I mixed up several batches of concrete and built up a new, more durable threshold for the back door. It took a while to build it up and apply an angle to it to direct the water out, but I did it. My wife watched me at the end of the process as I labored to get it nice and flat. I should be, in the next couple of days, reattaching the weather guard strip to the concrete. That's the thing that seals the bottom of the door to keep the unwanted out... ill temperature air and the bugs.
On Sunday, I started with some small tasks and went for a grocery/supply run. My wife and I then had a long "career" conversation that eventually lead to our guest arriving and then heading out for some sun and company.
Monday we really didn't feel like doing a ton, but a lot of options were on the table including a trip to the nearby amusement park. We ended up stopping into the Lowe's for a couple of things and then grabbing a couple of Blizzards from the Dairy Queen. We wandered downtown and checked out the new museum just off of the park. We returned home and napped. I got up and began to work on the trim for the bathroom project. I measured several times and then went out to do the cutting. It took a little while, but the wood cut easily and very clean. I brought it all into the bathroom and dry-fit everything. I noticed that one piece was too long and a couple of pieces may be a touch small. D'oh. I fit up the longest and most complicated piece and it dropped in, no problem. Whew! I tacked that one into place, but it may need a little adjustment a little later. I was soon working by flashlight but decided to pack it up as I needed to whack off about 1/16" from the next piece in the puzzle for the fit.
I plan on doing a quick buzz tonight before heading out to do something else, but fit and attach everything either Wednesday evening or on my day off on Thursday. This will let my wife finish painting the space before we get to the next weekend's activities.
I cut the lawn, cleared out the old "fort" that was built in the garage rafters prior to my ownership, cleared drains, tried to empty the truck, poured a new concrete slab, cut the trim for the small bathroom redo and spread a combo application of lawn care products. All that and a lot of maintenance stuff as well (laundry, grocery and supply runs, e-mail, etc.) plus entertain a guest on Sunday. Whew!
The original plan was to be entertaining visitors all three days, from my parents to out-of-town friends to local dinner gatherings to my wife's family. When everything settled, the only entertaining we did was the out-of-town friend... and ourselves. None-the less, we got an awfully lot done this weekend.
I started Saturday with my normal crack-of-dawn run followed by an attempt to unload the truck so I could do another filling of the bed. I drove to Pitsch wrecking to unload, but they were closed for the holiday weekend. D'oh! I've done this before for both Labor and Memorial Days. I should have learned this by now. So I drove back home and decided to overstuff the truck.
The grass was back with a vengeance with all the rain the past few weeks and it needed to be cut. I did so and found a way to get all the clippings into the back of the truck, still separated from the "junk" in the front of the bed. I mixed up the combo fertilizer made up of Scott's Plus2 and Haltz with the rest of my diazanon stash. This Plus2 provided anti-weed, Haltz crabgrass protection and the Diazanon kills every living thing in the soil... good and bad. I watered everything in good to get down deep. I really want to get all of the ants and grubs out... earlier in the week, my wife pulled up a chunk of grass only to uncover a lot of grubs happily chewing the roots. This is several weeks after the lawn service applied a good helping of GrubX... which apparently did not do its job.
As the sprinklers soaked all the goodness into the ground, I proceeded to tackle the garage fort. Talk about a lot of junk and nothing... it took several hours to get every piece down and all the nails hammered down. I managed to get it all into the back of the truck with the help of my trusty sawsall. Good ridden. There was some interesting objects up there amongst the walnut shells... a dated paper from the kid using the space... Bill Smolenski, 1975. Sweet line green and orange shag carpet. Interesting 12" X 12" multi-colored carpet tiles. A checkerboard with all the pieces.
I also junked a lot of building materials. A ton of oak trim I ripped out of my kitchen. Conduit from a previous owner. Wall track. Some curtain rods. Even a scary hook tool appropriate for Halloween!
The truck now sags a bit from all the wood and such but it will find its way to the junkyard in a few days :D.
While I was tending to loading up the truck, my wife began to rip out the threshold of the back door, which over the 100 years of its existence has eroded to a pile of splintered chunks. It did take me to hit it with the sawsall to get it all out. When she was done, she commenced with the cleanup of the driveway and garage. I think she covered the area with the little magnetic pick-up thing about a dozen times before she stopped picking up nails. What persistence! While she thoroughly combed the area, I mixed up several batches of concrete and built up a new, more durable threshold for the back door. It took a while to build it up and apply an angle to it to direct the water out, but I did it. My wife watched me at the end of the process as I labored to get it nice and flat. I should be, in the next couple of days, reattaching the weather guard strip to the concrete. That's the thing that seals the bottom of the door to keep the unwanted out... ill temperature air and the bugs.
On Sunday, I started with some small tasks and went for a grocery/supply run. My wife and I then had a long "career" conversation that eventually lead to our guest arriving and then heading out for some sun and company.
Monday we really didn't feel like doing a ton, but a lot of options were on the table including a trip to the nearby amusement park. We ended up stopping into the Lowe's for a couple of things and then grabbing a couple of Blizzards from the Dairy Queen. We wandered downtown and checked out the new museum just off of the park. We returned home and napped. I got up and began to work on the trim for the bathroom project. I measured several times and then went out to do the cutting. It took a little while, but the wood cut easily and very clean. I brought it all into the bathroom and dry-fit everything. I noticed that one piece was too long and a couple of pieces may be a touch small. D'oh. I fit up the longest and most complicated piece and it dropped in, no problem. Whew! I tacked that one into place, but it may need a little adjustment a little later. I was soon working by flashlight but decided to pack it up as I needed to whack off about 1/16" from the next piece in the puzzle for the fit.
I plan on doing a quick buzz tonight before heading out to do something else, but fit and attach everything either Wednesday evening or on my day off on Thursday. This will let my wife finish painting the space before we get to the next weekend's activities.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Paints... Brand Particular
My wife though me rude and absurd yesterday evening. The small bathroom has progressed to the point where she can now step in and paint up the joint. Well, we were in Meijer's, the local large box supermarket... kind of like a Target, but more focused on groceries... though they still have quite a bit of the knick-knacks one ever need. Anyway, we stopped by the paint section for her to look at colors. After a few minutes, she presents me with some colors. And she seems ready to buy.
I kind of give her the, "Are you sure you want this?" look. The kind they had was Dutch Boy. Ugh. At least to me. She had never used it, but the times that I had, they always turned out to be... icky. The paint was very plasticized and would easily peal off even after it had already dried. I dissuaded her though it was obvious she was perturbed by my reluctance to purchase the paint.
After leaving Meijer's, I make a beeline to Home Depot. Not her favorite place, but they do sell the paint that I have very high regard for, Behr. After a few minutes, she produces several Ralph Lauren paint colors and I chose the one I like and back it up with some rationale. Good to go. Ordered up the paint in semi-gloss (easy cleaning in the bathroom) in Behr... I'm glad they have that color scanner to make things easy for us.
Hopefully, she is painting as I type this.
I kind of give her the, "Are you sure you want this?" look. The kind they had was Dutch Boy. Ugh. At least to me. She had never used it, but the times that I had, they always turned out to be... icky. The paint was very plasticized and would easily peal off even after it had already dried. I dissuaded her though it was obvious she was perturbed by my reluctance to purchase the paint.
After leaving Meijer's, I make a beeline to Home Depot. Not her favorite place, but they do sell the paint that I have very high regard for, Behr. After a few minutes, she produces several Ralph Lauren paint colors and I chose the one I like and back it up with some rationale. Good to go. Ordered up the paint in semi-gloss (easy cleaning in the bathroom) in Behr... I'm glad they have that color scanner to make things easy for us.
Hopefully, she is painting as I type this.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Beware... Flying Stingers in the Ground
Well, another lesson learned... again.
This past weekend, I was mowing the lawn in the late afternoon/early evening. I was nearing the end of the whole thing and was mowing near a tree in the middle of the front yard. As I was descending the hill (the house is set up quite high off of the city sidewalk) I felt a little prick, then another and then burning. I looked down to see several bees/wasps/hornets clinging to my lower half. In a panic, I swatted at a couple. Then realized that that was a bone-headed endeavor and made a mad dash for the hose. It seemed like an eternity working the faucet and sprinkler controls to get the water going, but I eventually got it up and going... A spraying fury ensued while I also knocked off the little buggers with my heels.
The worst of it was had by my right ankle... it is currently very swelled and tender. I'm sure I got quite a few stings there but I really don't know how many... just that the area is quite larger than any others on my person.
I returned to the area a bit later armed with Wasp and Hornet spray. I found their hive at the base of the tree in the front yard and disappearing under a large root from the tree. I doused entrance with an entire can.
I then ran to Lowe's and picked up another can (along with some brass closet flanges for the small bathroom project). When I returned, I checked on the hive and there were quite a lot of black and yellow bodies strewn around the entrance. I doused it again with the new can of spray.
The next morning, I checked again and there were a couple of them hovering around the entrance, so I doused it again before finishing the lawn up. You see, after I get stung, I bagged the idea of finishing the lawn to tend to other jobs not involving the yard.
I checked the web for any info on ridding the lawn of the problem and there were several suggestions. The most often used was gasoline. However, I did come to find out that doing some of those approaches was a federal offense. For me, I will continue to monitor the area and periodically douse the entrance with sprays. I may also break out the old stash of Diazanon. However, that substance has been off the market now for a couple of years.
This past weekend, I was mowing the lawn in the late afternoon/early evening. I was nearing the end of the whole thing and was mowing near a tree in the middle of the front yard. As I was descending the hill (the house is set up quite high off of the city sidewalk) I felt a little prick, then another and then burning. I looked down to see several bees/wasps/hornets clinging to my lower half. In a panic, I swatted at a couple. Then realized that that was a bone-headed endeavor and made a mad dash for the hose. It seemed like an eternity working the faucet and sprinkler controls to get the water going, but I eventually got it up and going... A spraying fury ensued while I also knocked off the little buggers with my heels.
The worst of it was had by my right ankle... it is currently very swelled and tender. I'm sure I got quite a few stings there but I really don't know how many... just that the area is quite larger than any others on my person.
I returned to the area a bit later armed with Wasp and Hornet spray. I found their hive at the base of the tree in the front yard and disappearing under a large root from the tree. I doused entrance with an entire can.
I then ran to Lowe's and picked up another can (along with some brass closet flanges for the small bathroom project). When I returned, I checked on the hive and there were quite a lot of black and yellow bodies strewn around the entrance. I doused it again with the new can of spray.
The next morning, I checked again and there were a couple of them hovering around the entrance, so I doused it again before finishing the lawn up. You see, after I get stung, I bagged the idea of finishing the lawn to tend to other jobs not involving the yard.
I checked the web for any info on ridding the lawn of the problem and there were several suggestions. The most often used was gasoline. However, I did come to find out that doing some of those approaches was a federal offense. For me, I will continue to monitor the area and periodically douse the entrance with sprays. I may also break out the old stash of Diazanon. However, that substance has been off the market now for a couple of years.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Sealing the Tile and Other Small Wonders
I've put in the first coat of sealer onto the bathroom tile with one or two more to go onto the grout only. Since the tiles are glazed, they only required one coat to last the 20 years. The porosity of the grout calls for additional coats to make sure they are impervious to waters and oils. I'll set up with a foam brush and go over every inch of the grout. Oh fun... remember, I've used small mosaic tiles so there is more grout than say the usual 12X12 or even 4X4 tiles. Man, I'm a glutton for punishment.
On other fronts, my wife rearranged a bit of the landscaping around the house. She's thought a bit further ahead in regards to positioning and moved elements accordingly. The one bad thing, however is that she began to move some elements and decided to go a different direction. The bad thing? Part of it started with removing a bit of lawn. When she decided to do something different, the result was a bit of missing lawn. She didn't cut out the sod and place it aside... she ripped it out. So, one more thing added to my list is to regrow and/or replant that section of the lawn. Ah well.
Some clean up will be in order this weekend as the small bath is coming to a close. Though I have been requested to make some guards for the bunny cages to try to keep as much of the droppings in the cage and not on the surrounding floors. One of our rabbits seems a little ADD and hyper... which results in a lot of mess strewn about from her dashing all over the inside of the cage.
Still up for the small bath is all the fixtures, medicine cabinet, closet door, trim, etc. But I still have to address some issues with the closet flange. Primarily height since it is about 1/4" below the tile surface, so I may end up adding a couple of flange extensions to get the height closer to where is should be. I'll have to visis the local hardware box store to weigh my options.
On other fronts, my wife rearranged a bit of the landscaping around the house. She's thought a bit further ahead in regards to positioning and moved elements accordingly. The one bad thing, however is that she began to move some elements and decided to go a different direction. The bad thing? Part of it started with removing a bit of lawn. When she decided to do something different, the result was a bit of missing lawn. She didn't cut out the sod and place it aside... she ripped it out. So, one more thing added to my list is to regrow and/or replant that section of the lawn. Ah well.
Some clean up will be in order this weekend as the small bath is coming to a close. Though I have been requested to make some guards for the bunny cages to try to keep as much of the droppings in the cage and not on the surrounding floors. One of our rabbits seems a little ADD and hyper... which results in a lot of mess strewn about from her dashing all over the inside of the cage.
Still up for the small bath is all the fixtures, medicine cabinet, closet door, trim, etc. But I still have to address some issues with the closet flange. Primarily height since it is about 1/4" below the tile surface, so I may end up adding a couple of flange extensions to get the height closer to where is should be. I'll have to visis the local hardware box store to weigh my options.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
The Tile is IN!
That's right! The tile for the small bathroom is finally installed. It was a wicked learning experience... and one that should be improved upon in later attempts. The last step, sealing the grout, will be done in the next couple of days followed by a little bit of tweaking on the closet flange set-up, trim, paint, fixtures, closet door, medicine cabinet, electrical update... ugh.
The tile was a bear. We chose a 2" hex with 1" 'dot' pattern in all white ceramic glazed tile. I laid out the lines on the floor to line up and cut all the tiles prior to putting down the mortar bed, but what I missed was how to control the mortar as I spread it out. Right away, the chalk lines were covered up and gone within the first couple of strokes to get the mortar down. I had to do a "looks about right" approach as I matched up spacings and where the plumbing was located on the floor. The first bout of tiles went down that way. The next batch, me still struggling with the mortar, went down from the other end of the room, lining up with the sink drain. Uh oh... I'm just a hair too far over wit hthe first set of tiles... but it's too late, the mortar under those tiles had already began to set. I had to average the gaps on the tiles I had just laid to try and minimize the problem.
I finally go to the closet. It is narrow and deep, located underneath the main staircase of the house. What does that mean? Well, a very low ceiling and not a whole lot of room to maneuver. The average contractor would have a difficult time squeezing in to lay the tile nicely. Me? I am small enough to wiggle in and dexterous enough to spread the mortar and lay the tile. But it was no easy task none-the-less. By the end of the room, I got quite comfortable with spreading the mortar and laying the tile.
The slightly different spacing of the first few tiles made my wife leary about using the earth-tone grout chosen earlier for the project. We settled on doing the grout in white.
I began the grouting process, spreading the grout and pushing it into the spaces between the tiles. Most techniques I had read about spoke of driving the grout in diagonally but with hexagonal tile, this was a near impossibility. I did the best I could but still had problems getting even grout.
I also sponged as I went along to pick up much of the excess. I noticed when I did this, a lot more than I would like came up with the sponge. I later found out that I should have waited for it to set up a little firmer prior to the wipe down and should only go over an area once so not to remove too much material. Ah well, I did the best I could.
By the end, the white minimized any discrepancy in tile spacing to make the floor look very good. I noted to my wife that I pretty much had my nose in the tile and that the job was anything but perfect. She still liked the way it turned out.
A few hours later, I had to buff the tiles and the grout lines. Easy? I think not. I buffed every tile and tried to smooth as much of the grout as I possibly could. By the end of this step, my fingers were raw and angry. A near 2 hour ordeal. I have to remember to use white cloths for buffing as the gray and blue cloths I had were leaving little balls of lint that I had to clean off later.
I have been misting the tile for the last few days to let the mortar cure properly. Again, I will be applying the sealer in the next couple of days to bring this chapter of the small bathroom project to a close.
The tile was a bear. We chose a 2" hex with 1" 'dot' pattern in all white ceramic glazed tile. I laid out the lines on the floor to line up and cut all the tiles prior to putting down the mortar bed, but what I missed was how to control the mortar as I spread it out. Right away, the chalk lines were covered up and gone within the first couple of strokes to get the mortar down. I had to do a "looks about right" approach as I matched up spacings and where the plumbing was located on the floor. The first bout of tiles went down that way. The next batch, me still struggling with the mortar, went down from the other end of the room, lining up with the sink drain. Uh oh... I'm just a hair too far over wit hthe first set of tiles... but it's too late, the mortar under those tiles had already began to set. I had to average the gaps on the tiles I had just laid to try and minimize the problem.
I finally go to the closet. It is narrow and deep, located underneath the main staircase of the house. What does that mean? Well, a very low ceiling and not a whole lot of room to maneuver. The average contractor would have a difficult time squeezing in to lay the tile nicely. Me? I am small enough to wiggle in and dexterous enough to spread the mortar and lay the tile. But it was no easy task none-the-less. By the end of the room, I got quite comfortable with spreading the mortar and laying the tile.
The slightly different spacing of the first few tiles made my wife leary about using the earth-tone grout chosen earlier for the project. We settled on doing the grout in white.
I began the grouting process, spreading the grout and pushing it into the spaces between the tiles. Most techniques I had read about spoke of driving the grout in diagonally but with hexagonal tile, this was a near impossibility. I did the best I could but still had problems getting even grout.
I also sponged as I went along to pick up much of the excess. I noticed when I did this, a lot more than I would like came up with the sponge. I later found out that I should have waited for it to set up a little firmer prior to the wipe down and should only go over an area once so not to remove too much material. Ah well, I did the best I could.
By the end, the white minimized any discrepancy in tile spacing to make the floor look very good. I noted to my wife that I pretty much had my nose in the tile and that the job was anything but perfect. She still liked the way it turned out.
A few hours later, I had to buff the tiles and the grout lines. Easy? I think not. I buffed every tile and tried to smooth as much of the grout as I possibly could. By the end of this step, my fingers were raw and angry. A near 2 hour ordeal. I have to remember to use white cloths for buffing as the gray and blue cloths I had were leaving little balls of lint that I had to clean off later.
I have been misting the tile for the last few days to let the mortar cure properly. Again, I will be applying the sealer in the next couple of days to bring this chapter of the small bathroom project to a close.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Progress on the Little Bathroom that Could!
It has been some time since I wrote to this blog, but it has been a busy summer so far with the big home projects taking a back seat to a lot of other commitments. Still, little projects have come up regarding the sprinkler system, brick work, trees, roof issues, drains, the dry weather and as of last evening, the mysterious bat sightings have come to an end, thanks to my trust Wilson Pro Staff Classic. I mailed the pair via USPS Priority to Abudabi (just kidding).
My last post was in regards to our small bath on our main floor. It has progressed slowly, but has progressed. As an amateur home-fixer-upper, I generally take my steps a bit slower than the hired contractor... almost to the point of wondering if it is more time-efficient if the job was hired out (most times it is). But then I would not get the hands-on experience doing the job and eventually speeding it up for future projects. Anyway, since the last entry, I finished patching up all the walls and primed everything. I've also fixed the closet flange with new floor supports and a new flange attached to the drain stack and attached to the sub-floor. I also installed a half-inch subfloor over the original hardwood to protect it in case a future home-dweller got the gumption to restore the original flooring. On top of the sub-floor, I installed half-inch cementboard. The last step was a bugger as the self-tapping/drilling screws choked going into the oak hardwood flooring and I stripped heads, broke off heads, bent screws and a slew of phillips head bits. A note about bit head quality... don't get the DeWalt branded ones, I broke one on the first screw and stripped another in 3.
Another little hiccup was getting screws in behind the little radiator. This was a funny little solution and one my wife thought was a crazy approach. But, I did present her with two options. The first was to pick up a low-profile drill to get under the radiator and drive the screws. The danger was that I might not be able to get enough down-force/leverage to fully drive the screw and set the head flush. Plus, the lowest cost version was $80 and under-powered. Sufficiently powerful tools were in the $160+ range. My other idea was to get extensions long enough to go behind the radiator and drive the screws from above. I already had a couple of extensions but needed a much longer one to reach from above the radiator to the floor. At the same time we were pricing low-profile drills, we looked into extensions. $15 or so for the longest they had.
Hmmm... $160 or $15. Sold... we brought home the extension.
I put the whole contraption together (3 extensions) to do a test fit. Ugh... about 1.5" too short. Don't laugh, it really wasn't funny. Eventually, while grocery shopping, we swung by the hardware section (we go to Meijer which is one of those "everything" stores, but is locally owned) and pick up a little $1.50 magnetic extension... very generic. I popped it all together and drove the 4 screws in without any problems.
Another little hiccup was that my wife wanted to have tile go all the way into the little closet... that is under a set of stairs. Getting myself squeezed in there to drive the screw, figure the math to cut the flooring pieces correctly and mudding the seams was just pure joy (not). I'm sure my legs sticking out of the tiny doorway would have been a great photo op. But, it is all done and ready for the tile.
That's right, the bathroom is ready for me to start putting in the tile! Earlier this week, I started to mark up where the tiles need to go. I do need to pick up some sort of tile cutter before I start and pre-cut as much of the tile as I can so I can just spread the mortar and drop the tiles in place. I do need to work out how to do the closet as it has to align with the tiles being laid for the rest of the bathroom. The tight space will again have my legs flailing, sticking out of the tiny doorway to get a good anchor. I don't want to disturb any tile(s) I've placed prior to that time.
The tile we picked isn't a high dollar tile nor is it something inappropriate and cheap-looking for the space and time-period of the house. My first choice was to get 1" hex tiles with a 1" square tile border set into the space about 4"-6". My wife was a little skeptical on the intricacy of the work required (AKA - it would take me too long to lay the tile because I am a little perfectionist/anal-retentive when it comes to my personal works). So we chose an all white 2" hex tile with inset 1" square tile. Simple and straightforward. And only about $2.50/sqft instead of the $10+ for the 1" hex and other, more exotic selections. We also chose a dark brown grout for the space. It will be a fair match for the dark wood medicine cabinet and a good contrast to the all white sink and toilet we've picked out. Plus, the darker grout will not appear so stained over time. A good thing, in regards to my wife.
Other little details include cutting the closet door to fit the new floor height, picking the wall and trim paint colors, selecting bath fixtures (towel racks and toilet paper holder and determining the plumbing and plumbing fixtures. Sigh... still a bit to go....
My last post was in regards to our small bath on our main floor. It has progressed slowly, but has progressed. As an amateur home-fixer-upper, I generally take my steps a bit slower than the hired contractor... almost to the point of wondering if it is more time-efficient if the job was hired out (most times it is). But then I would not get the hands-on experience doing the job and eventually speeding it up for future projects. Anyway, since the last entry, I finished patching up all the walls and primed everything. I've also fixed the closet flange with new floor supports and a new flange attached to the drain stack and attached to the sub-floor. I also installed a half-inch subfloor over the original hardwood to protect it in case a future home-dweller got the gumption to restore the original flooring. On top of the sub-floor, I installed half-inch cementboard. The last step was a bugger as the self-tapping/drilling screws choked going into the oak hardwood flooring and I stripped heads, broke off heads, bent screws and a slew of phillips head bits. A note about bit head quality... don't get the DeWalt branded ones, I broke one on the first screw and stripped another in 3.
Another little hiccup was getting screws in behind the little radiator. This was a funny little solution and one my wife thought was a crazy approach. But, I did present her with two options. The first was to pick up a low-profile drill to get under the radiator and drive the screws. The danger was that I might not be able to get enough down-force/leverage to fully drive the screw and set the head flush. Plus, the lowest cost version was $80 and under-powered. Sufficiently powerful tools were in the $160+ range. My other idea was to get extensions long enough to go behind the radiator and drive the screws from above. I already had a couple of extensions but needed a much longer one to reach from above the radiator to the floor. At the same time we were pricing low-profile drills, we looked into extensions. $15 or so for the longest they had.
Hmmm... $160 or $15. Sold... we brought home the extension.
I put the whole contraption together (3 extensions) to do a test fit. Ugh... about 1.5" too short. Don't laugh, it really wasn't funny. Eventually, while grocery shopping, we swung by the hardware section (we go to Meijer which is one of those "everything" stores, but is locally owned) and pick up a little $1.50 magnetic extension... very generic. I popped it all together and drove the 4 screws in without any problems.
Another little hiccup was that my wife wanted to have tile go all the way into the little closet... that is under a set of stairs. Getting myself squeezed in there to drive the screw, figure the math to cut the flooring pieces correctly and mudding the seams was just pure joy (not). I'm sure my legs sticking out of the tiny doorway would have been a great photo op. But, it is all done and ready for the tile.
That's right, the bathroom is ready for me to start putting in the tile! Earlier this week, I started to mark up where the tiles need to go. I do need to pick up some sort of tile cutter before I start and pre-cut as much of the tile as I can so I can just spread the mortar and drop the tiles in place. I do need to work out how to do the closet as it has to align with the tiles being laid for the rest of the bathroom. The tight space will again have my legs flailing, sticking out of the tiny doorway to get a good anchor. I don't want to disturb any tile(s) I've placed prior to that time.
The tile we picked isn't a high dollar tile nor is it something inappropriate and cheap-looking for the space and time-period of the house. My first choice was to get 1" hex tiles with a 1" square tile border set into the space about 4"-6". My wife was a little skeptical on the intricacy of the work required (AKA - it would take me too long to lay the tile because I am a little perfectionist/anal-retentive when it comes to my personal works). So we chose an all white 2" hex tile with inset 1" square tile. Simple and straightforward. And only about $2.50/sqft instead of the $10+ for the 1" hex and other, more exotic selections. We also chose a dark brown grout for the space. It will be a fair match for the dark wood medicine cabinet and a good contrast to the all white sink and toilet we've picked out. Plus, the darker grout will not appear so stained over time. A good thing, in regards to my wife.
Other little details include cutting the closet door to fit the new floor height, picking the wall and trim paint colors, selecting bath fixtures (towel racks and toilet paper holder and determining the plumbing and plumbing fixtures. Sigh... still a bit to go....
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Small Bath... here we go!
I got side tracked for a little while and have been focusing on the house quite a bit. Not only has the weather kicked up but the amount of work on the house has also increased. Since the last entry, we've done a ton of work setting everything up outside. But now I am focusing back on the inside. The project started a bit ago, and we wanted to finish it before it got too warm out... but it has dragged a little bit. Anyway, it only took a weekend to demolish the entire bathroom and now its time to put everything back together. And like the kitchen before, putting it all back together is the tougher and less predictable than taking something apart.
I have mudded and sanded all the walls as smooth as 100 year old plaster can be... but we also found that there has been considerable (shoddier) work previously done which must be reversed (sigh). I need to repair a couple of holes that were left behind the giant mirror from a previous medicine cabinet and outlet. I also reinforced and repaired the flooring around the toilet/closet flange and prepped the pipe to accept a new flange. After the walls are complete, I will tackle the floors. Those will be tiled with hexagonal tile, period correct for the age of the house.
New baseboards for the bathroom are being created by my Carpenter while he is working on a custom wine rack for the kitchen. New bathroom fixtures are slated and should not be too difficult to install (I say that now...).
That's it for now, but I'm sure I'll be back for more....
I have mudded and sanded all the walls as smooth as 100 year old plaster can be... but we also found that there has been considerable (shoddier) work previously done which must be reversed (sigh). I need to repair a couple of holes that were left behind the giant mirror from a previous medicine cabinet and outlet. I also reinforced and repaired the flooring around the toilet/closet flange and prepped the pipe to accept a new flange. After the walls are complete, I will tackle the floors. Those will be tiled with hexagonal tile, period correct for the age of the house.
New baseboards for the bathroom are being created by my Carpenter while he is working on a custom wine rack for the kitchen. New bathroom fixtures are slated and should not be too difficult to install (I say that now...).
That's it for now, but I'm sure I'll be back for more....
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Cold Snap
Well, this cold snap has put a dampener on the Spring mood. We had to bring in the strawberry plants but really didn't do much else as the cold weather came back. Unfortunately, that was kind of a mistake... ooops. I had turned on the outdoor spigots and prepped the underground sprinklers for the warm weather. Well, I didn't shut it down when the cold weather hit. Who'd a thunk? So, on two separate days, my two sprinkler timers blew.
Back to Home & Farm to get another one...
Back to Home & Farm to get another one...
Friday, March 30, 2007
Tackling the Yard - Spring Installment
Well, my wife and I tackled the yard this past weekend. It took all of Saturday and a good part of Sunday to complete. But it was well worth getting it all done and out of the way.
Much of what we did would be considered basic Spring cleaning prior to the warm season. So to get started, I began to rake out the lawn of any thatch, leftover leaves or other undesirables left over the winter (dog poo and such). My wife began to bring out the flower pots and started in on the cleaning out the gardens. I turned on all of the outside spigots and tested them for and bursting, replaced and reset all of the sprinkler timers, and tested and repaired the entire underground sprinkler system. My wife cleaned off the porch and pitched all of the rampant newspapers, mailing and phonebooks that accumulated. She hung the front pots on the porch. I rolled out the entire lawn... not fun, not easy, but it is a good workout. Did I mention we live on top of a hill? My wife cleaned up the brick pile and storage area in the back. And I joined in on clearing out the gardens. My wife planted a few replacement bushes. To end Saturday we put down weed preventer and a fertilizer into all of the garden beds.
On Sunday my wife continued with getting the beds and pots ready to go while I swapped the tires on the vehicles from Winter to Summer tires. Basic cleanup ensued thereafter.
We did a lot of discussion later about the projects for this upcoming year and beyond. I can discuss that in other installments. But yesterday (Thursday) was a good sign that we chose the right time to do the yard. We decided earlier in the week that we would have Scott's Lawn Service deal with the shortcomings of the lawn that I was obviously not competent enough to instill... so low and behold, the first application came yesterday. Let's hope they get those weeds... and get 'em good!
Much of what we did would be considered basic Spring cleaning prior to the warm season. So to get started, I began to rake out the lawn of any thatch, leftover leaves or other undesirables left over the winter (dog poo and such). My wife began to bring out the flower pots and started in on the cleaning out the gardens. I turned on all of the outside spigots and tested them for and bursting, replaced and reset all of the sprinkler timers, and tested and repaired the entire underground sprinkler system. My wife cleaned off the porch and pitched all of the rampant newspapers, mailing and phonebooks that accumulated. She hung the front pots on the porch. I rolled out the entire lawn... not fun, not easy, but it is a good workout. Did I mention we live on top of a hill? My wife cleaned up the brick pile and storage area in the back. And I joined in on clearing out the gardens. My wife planted a few replacement bushes. To end Saturday we put down weed preventer and a fertilizer into all of the garden beds.
On Sunday my wife continued with getting the beds and pots ready to go while I swapped the tires on the vehicles from Winter to Summer tires. Basic cleanup ensued thereafter.
We did a lot of discussion later about the projects for this upcoming year and beyond. I can discuss that in other installments. But yesterday (Thursday) was a good sign that we chose the right time to do the yard. We decided earlier in the week that we would have Scott's Lawn Service deal with the shortcomings of the lawn that I was obviously not competent enough to instill... so low and behold, the first application came yesterday. Let's hope they get those weeds... and get 'em good!
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Buying 'the' House
So it took us 3 months to find our "new" house. This was back in the hay-day of the Real Estate game when it was more of a seller's market; 2002. I'm sure our agent was pretty sick of us by the time we got to the point of signing up for another house. Or he believed that my wife and I are picky beyond the common man. The last few weeks we were meeting with his assistant to look at houses since he was probably locked into other clients moving faster than we were. That's OK because we found a place that we both like (most of the time) and in a neighborhood that is very stable and noteworthy.
The house was actually one that we had looked at when we started our search. We liked the house, but the price asked did not meet the presentation of the house; dirty and unkept. So we passed and on went a 10 week foraging through homes. We did go into a bidding fiasco for a house that was just on the edge. On the edge meaning not only on the edge (outside of) of the Heritage Hill Historic District but also on the line of two neighborhoods; the renaissance coming from the historic district and the "hood" which developed in the decades before and continued to that day. What it meant was a risk with the neighborhood depending on which side surged forward. There was no way to really tell. Three houses south, burned out drug house. One block east, full home restorations under way. A half block north, the protection of Heritage Hill. We went after it, but after 2 tries we and our agent were flabbergasted. We met their asking price, which put us at the edge of our top ceiling, but asked for $1000 for minor roof work where one could actually see light coming through. At inspection, there was wet white caulk (or toothpaste) stuffed in the holes... which does not constitute a proper repair... at least in my book. So, the sale went down in flames for $1000. It was the most frustrating experience. But it wasn't meant to be. So we kept looking.
Over the course of those weeks, we looked at several levels of homes, neighborhoods, new and old constructions... everything. We decided after pretty much exhausting the city that we wanted to look at that big brick house again and gave the green light for another look-see. We got a call that night from our agent. We were going to look at the house the next day and that there was a new agent on the other end as well as a significant price drop. They couldn't sell it and had broken down. Gold!
We were the second people through the house with this new agent. The home was now cleaned up with a few lingering details that were not the best. But we liked it and loved the dining room. While the first person through was asking her dad if it was a good purchase, we were prepping our offer... full asking price. A day later, we were in and on our way.
Inspections uncovered plenty of minor problems but the most significant was the garage roof which cracked like potato chips as our inspector walked on them. The disclosure statement had "new roof" and this was clearly not. Long story short, we got $2000 to get a new roof on the garage. We closed the deal a few weeks later.
The house was actually one that we had looked at when we started our search. We liked the house, but the price asked did not meet the presentation of the house; dirty and unkept. So we passed and on went a 10 week foraging through homes. We did go into a bidding fiasco for a house that was just on the edge. On the edge meaning not only on the edge (outside of) of the Heritage Hill Historic District but also on the line of two neighborhoods; the renaissance coming from the historic district and the "hood" which developed in the decades before and continued to that day. What it meant was a risk with the neighborhood depending on which side surged forward. There was no way to really tell. Three houses south, burned out drug house. One block east, full home restorations under way. A half block north, the protection of Heritage Hill. We went after it, but after 2 tries we and our agent were flabbergasted. We met their asking price, which put us at the edge of our top ceiling, but asked for $1000 for minor roof work where one could actually see light coming through. At inspection, there was wet white caulk (or toothpaste) stuffed in the holes... which does not constitute a proper repair... at least in my book. So, the sale went down in flames for $1000. It was the most frustrating experience. But it wasn't meant to be. So we kept looking.
Over the course of those weeks, we looked at several levels of homes, neighborhoods, new and old constructions... everything. We decided after pretty much exhausting the city that we wanted to look at that big brick house again and gave the green light for another look-see. We got a call that night from our agent. We were going to look at the house the next day and that there was a new agent on the other end as well as a significant price drop. They couldn't sell it and had broken down. Gold!
We were the second people through the house with this new agent. The home was now cleaned up with a few lingering details that were not the best. But we liked it and loved the dining room. While the first person through was asking her dad if it was a good purchase, we were prepping our offer... full asking price. A day later, we were in and on our way.
Inspections uncovered plenty of minor problems but the most significant was the garage roof which cracked like potato chips as our inspector walked on them. The disclosure statement had "new roof" and this was clearly not. Long story short, we got $2000 to get a new roof on the garage. We closed the deal a few weeks later.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Who Do I Think I Am?
Well, I'm a homeowner trying to do the best I can with what I've got. For the last 15 years or so I've been in the office furniture industry designing offices and environments as well as researching human behavior, ergonomics, psychological and social environmental factors, cockpit layout, space flow, etc. all relating to the space we, as humans occupy. Through the course of these 15 years, I have been required to be computer savvy, sketch and render like a demon and most pertinent of all to be able to prototype and build what I design. These prototyping and building skills have helped me to hone my ability to work on the home. Also, the research and current data I have to comb through regarding residential trends, technology and architecture give me a good perspective of relevant home issues.
I am in the process of restoring my second home. My first, a 1920's Arts&Crafts Bungalow, was purchased in 1997, completed and sold in 2002. The house was done right and against my Real Estate Agent's recommendation, I asked top dollar. Low and behold, one week later I got my asking price. My only regret is that I didn't get to enjoy the newly redone kitchen for longer than a couple of weeks.
My current home is a turn-of-the-century modified Arts&Crafts brick 4-Square. My wife and I moved in a week after we were married. Since then we have done quite a bit of work on the house and just recently (pretty much) finished the kitchen. But more on the projects that we've done and plan to do in later entries... so stay tuned!
I am in the process of restoring my second home. My first, a 1920's Arts&Crafts Bungalow, was purchased in 1997, completed and sold in 2002. The house was done right and against my Real Estate Agent's recommendation, I asked top dollar. Low and behold, one week later I got my asking price. My only regret is that I didn't get to enjoy the newly redone kitchen for longer than a couple of weeks.
My current home is a turn-of-the-century modified Arts&Crafts brick 4-Square. My wife and I moved in a week after we were married. Since then we have done quite a bit of work on the house and just recently (pretty much) finished the kitchen. But more on the projects that we've done and plan to do in later entries... so stay tuned!
Monday, March 19, 2007
Shack•Shack is born!
As with many out there, I own my home... or rather I maintain it and the bank lets me believe I own it. Actually, I share a portion with the bank and am gaining on them slowly ;).
I am planning to use this as a resource for homeowners out there that need advice on products and repairs, links to vendors, and share my own thoughts and ideas on homes and living in general.
I hope I hold your attention and I keep it fresh for you.
Thanks for passing by and hopefully you'll check in periodically.
-bd- <--- that's my two thumbs up symbol! At least I think it's a good one.
I am planning to use this as a resource for homeowners out there that need advice on products and repairs, links to vendors, and share my own thoughts and ideas on homes and living in general.
I hope I hold your attention and I keep it fresh for you.
Thanks for passing by and hopefully you'll check in periodically.
-bd- <--- that's my two thumbs up symbol! At least I think it's a good one.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
