This is Halloween, and I am particularly missing my lovely rambling old house today.
I called the friend back home who is checking up on things.
The Very Bad People have been at it again. This time they have sliced through all the wires coming from the road and actually stolen the meter box. That's right, the meter box that belongs to the power company.
What the? Did I put a sign out on my house, saying "cut me apart to little pieces, I'll like it?"
A friend of mine commented today on how so many girls like to dress up for Halloween by wearing "as little as possible," the implication being that this was a Bad Thing.
If the girl wants to do that, that's her business.
If I have pressing business taking me away from my house for 6 months (or more, dammit!), that's my business.
Neither one gives anyone the right to touch.
My house can't scream and identify its attacker and press charges, though.
It's an old, old house.
I hope it's haunted, and I hope they try something tonight.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
People are mean
We've received many reports back from the PolyCottage from our friend who is trying to mind our business (at our request) while we are out of town. These reports are not so good.
A month after we left, apparently someone decided a battering ram would be a good idea, and broke in one of the back doors. This door just so happened to be boarded shut WITH 3-INCH SCREWS from the inside. After this, the battering-ram operator proceeded to our great room and ripped down our new drywall and tore out I'm-not-sure-I-want-to-know-how much of our new electrical cables, in addition to the old copper water pipes we had left in the ceiling for a lark. This led to much much depression on my part, because wiring the ceiling of that room (and the attic above it) was one of the great time-suckers of the weeks before we left. I'm sure they got, like, $20 for the copper. Yay for them.
Our friend has since re-boarded up the place, and there have been other attempts made on it, but apparently people are mostly dragging nasty mattresses under our back patio and sleeping there. Disgusting.
A month after we left, apparently someone decided a battering ram would be a good idea, and broke in one of the back doors. This door just so happened to be boarded shut WITH 3-INCH SCREWS from the inside. After this, the battering-ram operator proceeded to our great room and ripped down our new drywall and tore out I'm-not-sure-I-want-to-know-how much of our new electrical cables, in addition to the old copper water pipes we had left in the ceiling for a lark. This led to much much depression on my part, because wiring the ceiling of that room (and the attic above it) was one of the great time-suckers of the weeks before we left. I'm sure they got, like, $20 for the copper. Yay for them.
Our friend has since re-boarded up the place, and there have been other attempts made on it, but apparently people are mostly dragging nasty mattresses under our back patio and sleeping there. Disgusting.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
How to abandon your house, post-haste
There was a crazy flurry of work there for a couple of weeks during which I was too busy to really make posts - I'll be rectifying that soon, and posting about all of the work that we did. Following the crazy flurry of work, there was another crazy flurry of us moving.
My husband got this amazing job offer (pretty much out of nowhere) all the way across the country and it was one of those offers we couldn't refuse, so we dutifully boarded up the PolyCottage and then boarded the plane and moved into an apartment. This leaves me with no electrical work, no plumbing, no walls to fix or build and no light fixtures to change. This apartment complex won't even let us change the light bulbs! The apartment is beige and I do not like it. We did have a little accident with one of the walls that left an enormous hole punched into it, so I get to try and seamlessly patch that so no one finds out about it! Yay!
We'll be going back to work on the house, and we do plan to move back and finish it at some point. Leaving it like that was very unsatisfying, but I still have lots of content for this blog! So while I can't work on the house, I can write about working on the house.
My husband got this amazing job offer (pretty much out of nowhere) all the way across the country and it was one of those offers we couldn't refuse, so we dutifully boarded up the PolyCottage and then boarded the plane and moved into an apartment. This leaves me with no electrical work, no plumbing, no walls to fix or build and no light fixtures to change. This apartment complex won't even let us change the light bulbs! The apartment is beige and I do not like it. We did have a little accident with one of the walls that left an enormous hole punched into it, so I get to try and seamlessly patch that so no one finds out about it! Yay!
We'll be going back to work on the house, and we do plan to move back and finish it at some point. Leaving it like that was very unsatisfying, but I still have lots of content for this blog! So while I can't work on the house, I can write about working on the house.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
So. Much. Progress.
No, really. My brain hurts. In the last few weeks we've:
Pretty much completely rewalled/receilinged our great room (minus the part were we put the last coat of joint compound on, smooth it out, prime and paint).
Restored a doorway opening where someone had decided a door shouldn't be (need to find/make trim to match the rest of the house).
Installed three of our beautiful new cabinets, plus the section of our counter top with the sink in it.
Connected the drain AND water line/faucet for the kitchen sink.
Installed an outside covered GFCI receptacle that I've been putting off for ages because I had to work in the moat:
Cleaned up our future office/laundry room (we've been keeping materials there) so that you can actually see three of the walls and the floor! The floor is gorgeous.
Discovered a cool wallpaper pattern beneath years of replacements, and actually saved enough of it to see what it was really like!
Connected the toilet to the new water lines and actually put the tank on it!
Any one of these things deserves a post all to itself. Cramming them all into one seems kind of disrespectful. I should work on that. There are more projects we've done as well! I'll be more descriptive as soon as I can pull off stopping work on the house before dark.
Pretty much completely rewalled/receilinged our great room (minus the part were we put the last coat of joint compound on, smooth it out, prime and paint).
Restored a doorway opening where someone had decided a door shouldn't be (need to find/make trim to match the rest of the house).
Installed three of our beautiful new cabinets, plus the section of our counter top with the sink in it.
Connected the drain AND water line/faucet for the kitchen sink.
Installed an outside covered GFCI receptacle that I've been putting off for ages because I had to work in the moat:
Cleaned up our future office/laundry room (we've been keeping materials there) so that you can actually see three of the walls and the floor! The floor is gorgeous.
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| Ground in dirt from the carpet pad on the right side, the nasty cleaned off on the left. |
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| It's a very neat, very thin, very delicate paper. Water completely peels it off the wall. The pattern is cool, and seems like it's the first one to have been put on the wall (or someone took any old paper off first). |
Any one of these things deserves a post all to itself. Cramming them all into one seems kind of disrespectful. I should work on that. There are more projects we've done as well! I'll be more descriptive as soon as I can pull off stopping work on the house before dark.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
We're still alive
Just working like crazy and not a moment to do anything else, it seems.
Major update: Kitchen sink is in, and drain is connected! Some photos might be nice sometime soon, and a proper write-up.
Nearing the end of this phase of fixing things and just finding more things to fix, and we're actually able to start finishing things. It's a very exciting time.
Major update: Kitchen sink is in, and drain is connected! Some photos might be nice sometime soon, and a proper write-up.
Nearing the end of this phase of fixing things and just finding more things to fix, and we're actually able to start finishing things. It's a very exciting time.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Steel casement story, part 2
In the previous post, I mentioned our first plan of attack was to fix the windows. We definitely had our work cut out for us. You know something's not quite right when you're happy to find one of your window panes has been taped in.
Steel casement story, part 1
We have 9 gorgeous steel casement windows manufactured by Hope's. We have three different sizes/kinds in four areas. They've suffered from many many many years of neglect and many layers of paint that clearly wasn't the kind they needed to keep them from rusting. A shower covers the left half of one, which you can see from the outside, but not the inside.
When we bought the house, our first angle of attack was to FIX THE WINDOWS (not just the steel ones), so that the elements weren't coming in through the broken glass and not-closed frames.
The steel windows are not original to the house, but were put in in a series of additions sometime after the 1930s, when Hope's became Hope's. The entire shed dormer addition to the big attic/library was once windowed with them, but sometime in the past some previous owner ripped out two of them. The old trim was still there, but the outside wall had been resheathed and sided, and then some other owner had cut a giant, badly planned hole in the wall for a window air conditioner.
In our consideration for how to deal with that hole, we decided we might just need an air conditioner up there as well, so instead of just walling it over, we put in a new window, which does not match the casements at all, but is there for a purpose and certainly looks better (and is more weatherproof!) than the nasty hole that was there. I do plan to use the original trim around it, so at least that will match. The window stool was partially rotted where water was getting inside the hole, but I salvaged enough of it to work on the new window, which is considerably smaller. It might look odd on one side where I had to cut it a bit too short because of the rot, but I really want to keep the old wood, so we'll manage with it looking ever so slightly off from perfect.
I digress! Most of the casement operators were badly worn and when they did work they did so only after pushing or pulling the window a little first so the gears would catch. A few of the handle locks were completely missing, and one is broken. I contacted Hope's, and they got back to me very quickly. However, I was distressed when I discovered replacements from the manufacturer would run me in the neighborhood of $150 per operator. Quick math told me this was $300 per window, $2700 for all of them! Just to open and close the existing windows! I balked. That was a quarter what we paid for the whole house, and that didn't even include the prices for the locks, which my brain can't even remember after the drooling sticker shock on the operators. I considered just getting 4 for the downstairs windows (the most important ones to close properly, since they're right on the ground and an open casement window = a door). I wanted to have some with Hope's on them, so a future owner would be able to discover the same thing about the windows that I did. I'm still debating this.
A friend told me the machine shop at the local college would probably be able to work the original hardware so the gears would operate. This is another thing I need to check into.
I did a ton more research, found a lot of sites that offered window hardware. I had a very difficult time finding any hardware on any of these sites to match my windows. I measured the screw hole spacing, then I measured again. I swear, these guys had the strangest, most non-standard sort of spacing (4 and 1/8 inches on the operator, 1 and 13/16ths on the handle...thirteen sixteenths?) and I just couldn't be certain that my measurements were right, because nothing I could find matched them.
Then I discovered Blaine Window Hardware, which had a ton of stuff. I got very very excited that I'd find my operators. I didn't. BUT. The handles were there! $29.50 each. That's in the neighborhood of $60 per window, but they are exact matches to the handles I already have, so I only needed three. I ordered two, to make certain they would work. They fit, but didn't come with fasteners, and no standard one would work due to the way it was shaped and the length having to be exact. So, grabbing a fastener from another handle, we made a trip to Lowe's to try to match it. After half an hour adventuring in the specialty fastener drawers, we did. They look a little odd as the color doesn't match, but for now I just rejoice in the fact that I can lock the upstairs windows.
After I ordered the locks, I kept looking for the operators. Site after site passed by. Truth, Fenestra. No, no. Finally, Hope's! At Robert Brooke and Associates, there they were. $22.95 per operator. I bought six and had them shipped for around the price of one from Hope's. Thankfully, they do come with fasteners. With the six that I have I figured I would replace the more non-working ones in the attic, and bring those downstairs, since at least downstairs you can push the window all the way closed from the outside. The old ones from upstairs say Hope's, and work a little better than the ones that were downstairs, I imagine from less frequent use (or abuse). Now I can both crank the upstairs windows open/closed and lock them. It's quite the coup.
Next up, adventures in restoring steel casement windows!
When we bought the house, our first angle of attack was to FIX THE WINDOWS (not just the steel ones), so that the elements weren't coming in through the broken glass and not-closed frames.
 |
| The previous owners were such handy folks. I know their neighbors were demanding help from them all the time. |
In our consideration for how to deal with that hole, we decided we might just need an air conditioner up there as well, so instead of just walling it over, we put in a new window, which does not match the casements at all, but is there for a purpose and certainly looks better (and is more weatherproof!) than the nasty hole that was there. I do plan to use the original trim around it, so at least that will match. The window stool was partially rotted where water was getting inside the hole, but I salvaged enough of it to work on the new window, which is considerably smaller. It might look odd on one side where I had to cut it a bit too short because of the rot, but I really want to keep the old wood, so we'll manage with it looking ever so slightly off from perfect.
I digress! Most of the casement operators were badly worn and when they did work they did so only after pushing or pulling the window a little first so the gears would catch. A few of the handle locks were completely missing, and one is broken. I contacted Hope's, and they got back to me very quickly. However, I was distressed when I discovered replacements from the manufacturer would run me in the neighborhood of $150 per operator. Quick math told me this was $300 per window, $2700 for all of them! Just to open and close the existing windows! I balked. That was a quarter what we paid for the whole house, and that didn't even include the prices for the locks, which my brain can't even remember after the drooling sticker shock on the operators. I considered just getting 4 for the downstairs windows (the most important ones to close properly, since they're right on the ground and an open casement window = a door). I wanted to have some with Hope's on them, so a future owner would be able to discover the same thing about the windows that I did. I'm still debating this.
A friend told me the machine shop at the local college would probably be able to work the original hardware so the gears would operate. This is another thing I need to check into.
I did a ton more research, found a lot of sites that offered window hardware. I had a very difficult time finding any hardware on any of these sites to match my windows. I measured the screw hole spacing, then I measured again. I swear, these guys had the strangest, most non-standard sort of spacing (4 and 1/8 inches on the operator, 1 and 13/16ths on the handle...thirteen sixteenths?) and I just couldn't be certain that my measurements were right, because nothing I could find matched them.
Then I discovered Blaine Window Hardware, which had a ton of stuff. I got very very excited that I'd find my operators. I didn't. BUT. The handles were there! $29.50 each. That's in the neighborhood of $60 per window, but they are exact matches to the handles I already have, so I only needed three. I ordered two, to make certain they would work. They fit, but didn't come with fasteners, and no standard one would work due to the way it was shaped and the length having to be exact. So, grabbing a fastener from another handle, we made a trip to Lowe's to try to match it. After half an hour adventuring in the specialty fastener drawers, we did. They look a little odd as the color doesn't match, but for now I just rejoice in the fact that I can lock the upstairs windows.
After I ordered the locks, I kept looking for the operators. Site after site passed by. Truth, Fenestra. No, no. Finally, Hope's! At Robert Brooke and Associates, there they were. $22.95 per operator. I bought six and had them shipped for around the price of one from Hope's. Thankfully, they do come with fasteners. With the six that I have I figured I would replace the more non-working ones in the attic, and bring those downstairs, since at least downstairs you can push the window all the way closed from the outside. The old ones from upstairs say Hope's, and work a little better than the ones that were downstairs, I imagine from less frequent use (or abuse). Now I can both crank the upstairs windows open/closed and lock them. It's quite the coup.
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| New handles on the left window, old ones on the right. Ditto on the operators. Will eventually replace the operators on the right window, but for now it's not necessary since we can open the other windows and just leave that one closed. |
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| The fasteners don't match, but that's okay! Really! |
Next up, adventures in restoring steel casement windows!
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Adventures in caulk-slinging
I love caulk. It's fabulous for weather sealing and waterproofing things like the edges of bathtubs and sinks. I love loading up a caulk gun and squeezing the stuff out into a perfect bead. Even a not-so-perfect bead, if it happens (and it DOES). I love the POP feeling of puncturing the foil seal for the first time. It's wonderful stuff.
There are, however, certain applications for which it should not be used. For your reference, I will list a few of these things here.
There are, however, certain applications for which it should not be used. For your reference, I will list a few of these things here.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Weekend wrap-up
Gorgeous weekend. Yesterday was quite blustery, but today was downright wonderful. We lazed about at home, headed to the house.. then realized we had no keys on us. So I drove back home while Alexis worked on a patch and read outside on the patio in the lovely spring weather. We finally did get to do inside work, and we took care of a bunch of stuff.
Alexis worked on more patches and getting some nails out of some trim we wanted to bring home. I scraped the ceiling some more and started working on another wall, in addition to moving piles of stuff to more convenient locations and sweeping up the results of my work on the ceiling. Oh, I gave the wall another coat of paint as well. We then knocked off early to come home and enjoy the rest of the fabulous day with our munchkin. Lots of photos after the break.
Alexis worked on more patches and getting some nails out of some trim we wanted to bring home. I scraped the ceiling some more and started working on another wall, in addition to moving piles of stuff to more convenient locations and sweeping up the results of my work on the ceiling. Oh, I gave the wall another coat of paint as well. We then knocked off early to come home and enjoy the rest of the fabulous day with our munchkin. Lots of photos after the break.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
YES, yes, OH yes.
We had a bit of a slow start today, but when we did get started we REALLY got started.
Alexis worked on patching walls in the upstairs bathroom while I finished smoothing out the last rough patches on our newly remade walls. While I waited for that mud to dry, I started scraping off the really horrible-looking ceiling paint. It looked like the plaster beneath would be completely ruined, but as I scraped I saw the horrible browny-non-color begin to fall away, and beneath this sometimes-bulgy nastiness, perfectly smooth plaster was revealed. I was delighted.
Of course, no news can be all good, so in some places the top coat of plaster was falling completely off all the way down to the scratch coat as soon as I took off the paint, and in one (very large, say 20 inch circle?) place the previous owners had patched the plaster with what I can only assume was caulk (!), but mostly, it was a very good experience. Very very welcome in a house that so seldom contains good surprises.
We ate a late lunch, and then...oh, then, I painted. That's right. Easter Basket ALL over the walls.
After the painting, I went back to scraping the ceiling. Each time I turned around and got a glimpse of the wall, I laughed gleefully. Once the paint dried, I put all the receptacle and switch covers back on, and took far too many photos. Purple makes me happy.
Alexis primed the trim around the windows, and I fiddled with trying to figure out how to put the old trim back up on the new wall without it looking weird. The plaster was much thicker than the sheet rock, and we didn't adjust for that on the back side, so now we have a little issue where the top trim isn't going to match the left trim properly unless we figure out some way to make it do so without looking too weird.
Alexis worked on patching walls in the upstairs bathroom while I finished smoothing out the last rough patches on our newly remade walls. While I waited for that mud to dry, I started scraping off the really horrible-looking ceiling paint. It looked like the plaster beneath would be completely ruined, but as I scraped I saw the horrible browny-non-color begin to fall away, and beneath this sometimes-bulgy nastiness, perfectly smooth plaster was revealed. I was delighted.
Of course, no news can be all good, so in some places the top coat of plaster was falling completely off all the way down to the scratch coat as soon as I took off the paint, and in one (very large, say 20 inch circle?) place the previous owners had patched the plaster with what I can only assume was caulk (!), but mostly, it was a very good experience. Very very welcome in a house that so seldom contains good surprises.
We ate a late lunch, and then...oh, then, I painted. That's right. Easter Basket ALL over the walls.
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| Sorry about the mess. One day we'll clean up! This is mostly a before. |
After the painting, I went back to scraping the ceiling. Each time I turned around and got a glimpse of the wall, I laughed gleefully. Once the paint dried, I put all the receptacle and switch covers back on, and took far too many photos. Purple makes me happy.
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| VERY VERY HAPPY. Did I mention I love purple? |
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| I put the trim on for the photo. It looks good as long as you don't look at it from the side. Small window still needs trim. |
Alexis primed the trim around the windows, and I fiddled with trying to figure out how to put the old trim back up on the new wall without it looking weird. The plaster was much thicker than the sheet rock, and we didn't adjust for that on the back side, so now we have a little issue where the top trim isn't going to match the left trim properly unless we figure out some way to make it do so without looking too weird.
Friday, April 1, 2011
COLOR!
Our walls in the library/guest room are starting to resemble real, honest-to-goodness walls. I spend great swaths of time just rubbing my hands over the smoooooth surfaces. It's very exciting.
We finally picked a paint color for these newly finished wonders. It's called "Easter Basket" and it's a lovely light lilac. The paint was not cheap, coming in at about $36 all told, but hey, these walls deserve it. A few more tiny spots that need to be smoothed out when the weather warms up (oh yeah, who turned it back to winter for the last WEEK, huh?), and then we'll paint!
We finally picked a paint color for these newly finished wonders. It's called "Easter Basket" and it's a lovely light lilac. The paint was not cheap, coming in at about $36 all told, but hey, these walls deserve it. A few more tiny spots that need to be smoothed out when the weather warms up (oh yeah, who turned it back to winter for the last WEEK, huh?), and then we'll paint!
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Solar post lamps
Our house has a lamp post out in the front yard. It was wired with all new wire up until the line ran under the house, at which point someone taped (yes, taped) the wires from the new cable to an old one coming from the switch box. I suppose I could have put a junction box there and run a new cable from the switch box, but that seemed sloppy, as did digging a new trench for one cable for one light.
So I started doing research on solar post lamps. On at night, off in the daytime.. extra bonus that the power doesn't have to be ON at the house for the light to come on. They were all very pricey ($100 and up, before shipping), and I was beginning to despair of finding one to even begin to match the style I was looking for at any kind of reasonable price point.
Then I found DM Solar.
They only had one lamp, but it was within my budget and it was the sort of style I was looking for. I ordered 2, as I also have a lamp post in the back yard that may be difficult to wire. Both of them with shipping wound up costing me just about $98 - less than any other single lamp I'd been able to find before, not even including shipping.
We installed one, and it looks great and it works beautifully.
It doesn't light up the whole yard, but I didn't want that anyway. I'm very pleased.
So I started doing research on solar post lamps. On at night, off in the daytime.. extra bonus that the power doesn't have to be ON at the house for the light to come on. They were all very pricey ($100 and up, before shipping), and I was beginning to despair of finding one to even begin to match the style I was looking for at any kind of reasonable price point.
Then I found DM Solar.
They only had one lamp, but it was within my budget and it was the sort of style I was looking for. I ordered 2, as I also have a lamp post in the back yard that may be difficult to wire. Both of them with shipping wound up costing me just about $98 - less than any other single lamp I'd been able to find before, not even including shipping.
We installed one, and it looks great and it works beautifully.
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| I like this view the best, with the wall and the bushes. |
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| This one puts it more in context with the house. Sorry about the vertigo-inducing angle. |
Sunday, March 20, 2011
We got us another wall
Some extreme before & after goodness:
I suppose it's not really an "after," since we're clearly not quite finished with the wall - (paint, baseboards, trim, not to even mention the top and right edges), but the difference is so major that I was startled when I compared the two. Sadly it's not a proper B&A, since the first shot is from the wrong angle. In my defense, when I took it there really wasn't anywhere else to stand.
So this weekend we patched the large hole, then scraped off all the paint that would flake, then taped the joints and skim coated the whole wall. I also installed the switch box and the receptacle on the left. I love wiring. I have an unfortunate splinter in the tip of my thumb though, so the husband twisted my wire nuts on for me.
My mom went around and removed all the old crappy various random hardware bits from the trim around the windows; it wound up being a small bucket full.
The deadbolt for the sliding door is ON (thank you, husband), and that sucker ain't going anywhere when it's locked. If you have a broken sliding glass door lock and no time or finances to replace the door right now, I highly recommend it. I bought mine on ebay for $19 all told, but this is the website: http://www.caldoubleboltlock.com/
The site is kind of loud and annoying and as-seen-on-TV-ey, but the product is tops.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Hot patches galore
St. Patrick's day was fabulously productive. I spent the first part of the day delicately transplanting my tomato and other seedlings into individual cups, then off to work on the wall in the late afternoon. On Wednesday I spent my time cutting the receptacle opening larger so that I could fit the box in there, and on Thursday it was just about ready to patch. I'd measured and made the patch Wednesday evening.
I have a nice series of photos to go with, almost a step-by-step.
I have a nice series of photos to go with, almost a step-by-step.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Metal lath hate, reprise
After the fantastic time we had on Sunday, Monday was a bit of a letdown. I spent three hours trying to get an electrical box into the opening behind the metal lath and plaster, but since the wall cavity is so shallow and the #$%& lath and plaster is so thick in that area, it's pretty much a no go. I'm going to have to cut out a bigger portion and then patch with drywall so that a shallow old work box will fit behind it.
A large portion of that time was also spent trying to install a deadbolt for our sliding glass door too, as we don't have the cash flow right now to completely replace it and the lock is broken.
I did take a photo of the patches for the bathroom heater, though, so all is not lost. I do suppose I'd rather waste three hours of a weekday evening than a weekend day on doing the whole box thing, and either way it would have had to be done. I haven't failed, I've just found many ways that won't work!
Here's the photo:
I think he did a fabulous job. It still needs to be covered and the joints feathered out, but the lion's share of this job is complete.
A large portion of that time was also spent trying to install a deadbolt for our sliding glass door too, as we don't have the cash flow right now to completely replace it and the lock is broken.
I did take a photo of the patches for the bathroom heater, though, so all is not lost. I do suppose I'd rather waste three hours of a weekday evening than a weekend day on doing the whole box thing, and either way it would have had to be done. I haven't failed, I've just found many ways that won't work!
Here's the photo:
I think he did a fabulous job. It still needs to be covered and the joints feathered out, but the lion's share of this job is complete.
Monday, March 14, 2011
One wall (mostly) in the bag, NEXT wall!
This weekend was full of gorgeous good weather and lots of sunshine - but not too much. We basked in the sun and we reveled in the fact that we'd have an entire extra hour of daylight on Sunday!
On Saturday, the most excellent other half installed the bathroom heater - leaving the wiring for me. I worked on pulling a wire from one side of the crawlspace opening to the other:
On Saturday, the most excellent other half installed the bathroom heater - leaving the wiring for me. I worked on pulling a wire from one side of the crawlspace opening to the other:
This is what took up the bulk of my Saturday. For real. I ran the cable from the opening on the left through the ceiling/wall space above that little closet to the great big hole that I knocked in the wall on the right, then down to the proper hole. The hole only had to be so big because the stupid plaster had broken down behind the wall and nothing could push the lumps out of the way without more access. Argh. Next weekend: hole patching.
On Sunday, Awesome Man laminated thin plywood sheets to the studs and support beams so that the wall patch will match the plaster in thickness, and then I installed the box and stapled the cables.
He spent a good deal of time making perfect drywall hot patches to go around the heater he had put in on Saturday. It looks pretty sweet.
Also on Sunday, we went from this:
To this:
The bench top WAS on initially, but I didn't take a photo of that. Taking it off was quite a hassle, but we did it without making any cuts (except in the nails), and I'm quite pleased with us. I'm very happy with this progress because I've been wondering for months how I was going to get electricity over to this side of the room. We're almost ready to paint in here.
Can anyone tell me WHY the wood smelled like feces when I started cutting into it? It was strong and very unpleasant and it created a cloud of yuck that gave me a migraine before I left.
Can anyone tell me WHY the wood smelled like feces when I started cutting into it? It was strong and very unpleasant and it created a cloud of yuck that gave me a migraine before I left.
I've also finally developed an excellent way to get romex into old work romex boxes with a) the right amount of insulation inside the box and b) without nicking any wires, thanks to my Klein K1412. I use this tool to cut through the outer sheathing of the cable exactly where I want the sheathing to end inside the box, then pull it halfway off and pull the paper from between the wires. After that, I push the sheathing back onto the wires and pull it through the box clamp. Once it's through, I slide the sheathing back off again and YAY! Perfect, undamaged wire insulation.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Amazing
Nothing in the world beats the feeling of having pulled 4x8 sheets of drywall straight up via the small opening next to the stairs, causing the sheets to more-or-less bypass the stairs entirely. Sure, your arms may shake and you may feel like you can't quite do it, but once it's done it is a feeling of outright dominance, human vs. very heavy object. I wondered why the stairs were built like that. I still don't know why, but am very glad, because taking them up the stairs the traditional way would have been far far more difficult.
Two people are definitely a must for such a task; three would have been better. So happy we didn't try to take them up while they were still paired together; THAT would have been impossible.
We can do anything!
Two people are definitely a must for such a task; three would have been better. So happy we didn't try to take them up while they were still paired together; THAT would have been impossible.
We can do anything!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
First look
When we bought our house, it was in quite a state of disrepair. It has eight (yes, eight) doors to the outside, and only two of them locked properly. The carpets stank, most of the first floor windowpanes were broken, and one of the actual wooden window muntins had been smashed. On the second floor there was a giant hole in the wall and a bird was nesting in between the flapping vinyl siding and the better wooden siding. What follows is our first set of house photos. Lots of photos, don't say I didn't warn you.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Plaster over metal lath
If you own a house with plaster over metal lath, I pity you. I pity myself more, since I've lost more blood and man-hours to The Metal Menace than probably anything else in all of the PolyCottage.
We removed an entire attic wall of this awful stuff, but most of that wall was windows. It still took the two of us two hours to remove a 30-inch by 16 foot section. I was hoping that would be the end of it, but the wiring on the adjoining wall is inaccessible without removing some of it. To compound matters, the entrance to the overhead crawlspace comes in between, so we'll have to remove even more, probably the entire lower 2/3rds. I managed to beat a large hole into it so I could see what was going on behind it. I got my flashlight and started to stick my head into the opening, when ..ouch! Scratched right over the eyebrow with the stupid metal lath. I hate it.
The aforementioned wall, after removing both the horrible falling-apart paneling that had been put over the crumbling plaster and the plaster and rusted lath. Note that this wasn't quite the end of it, as you can see ragged bits that we had to come back and clean up later.
What on earth could the people have been thinking who came up with this? It makes refits so difficult; cutting one tiny hole takes an hour. And God forbid it ever gets damp (as shown, from the inside of the wall) - it rusts out from behind and makes the entire wall look like cottage cheese. Crumbling, dusty cottage cheese. The bonus there is that at least the lath tears when you pull on it hard enough.
I am big on preservation, and I want to maintain the historical aspects of my home wherever possible - but metal lath is not worthy of keeping around (IMHO). The plaster over rock lath on the ground floor, now THAT is some nice wall material.
My method? I hit it with a sledgehammer anywhere there's not a stud, then when I have enough bare lath showing I use my snips to cut through it until I have a flap, which I then pull. I save the larger, intact chunks of plaster that fall to use for patches.
Definitely need lots of fresh air, a good dust mask, eye protection, and tough clothes and gloves. A good crow bar, a flat pry bar, and metal snips are musts.
If you plan on removing small pieces, then you need some kind of rotary tool (I have a RotoZip as well as a Craftsman cut-out saw - the cordless nature of the latter is a definite advantage for me) with a plaster bit to first cut through the plaster in the shape you desire, and then cut the lath underneath with your snips. A steady hand and a good pencil line to follow are very helpful, as is a circle guide for cutting those perfectly round openings we all like so much. Good music helps as well, to make the horrible time-munching seem less bad.
We removed an entire attic wall of this awful stuff, but most of that wall was windows. It still took the two of us two hours to remove a 30-inch by 16 foot section. I was hoping that would be the end of it, but the wiring on the adjoining wall is inaccessible without removing some of it. To compound matters, the entrance to the overhead crawlspace comes in between, so we'll have to remove even more, probably the entire lower 2/3rds. I managed to beat a large hole into it so I could see what was going on behind it. I got my flashlight and started to stick my head into the opening, when ..ouch! Scratched right over the eyebrow with the stupid metal lath. I hate it.
I am big on preservation, and I want to maintain the historical aspects of my home wherever possible - but metal lath is not worthy of keeping around (IMHO). The plaster over rock lath on the ground floor, now THAT is some nice wall material.
My method? I hit it with a sledgehammer anywhere there's not a stud, then when I have enough bare lath showing I use my snips to cut through it until I have a flap, which I then pull. I save the larger, intact chunks of plaster that fall to use for patches.
Definitely need lots of fresh air, a good dust mask, eye protection, and tough clothes and gloves. A good crow bar, a flat pry bar, and metal snips are musts.
If you plan on removing small pieces, then you need some kind of rotary tool (I have a RotoZip as well as a Craftsman cut-out saw - the cordless nature of the latter is a definite advantage for me) with a plaster bit to first cut through the plaster in the shape you desire, and then cut the lath underneath with your snips. A steady hand and a good pencil line to follow are very helpful, as is a circle guide for cutting those perfectly round openings we all like so much. Good music helps as well, to make the horrible time-munching seem less bad.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Our old house
Almost exactly one year ago, we purchased a house. What a house. A fixer-upper, definitely. But so much charm! So much charm and such an inviting price that we couldn't let it get away from us, so we made an offer that was 1500 over the asking price, even knowing it was a fixer-upper.
We have learned much in the interval between then and now. We have benefitted from the blogs of other people with old houses, and feel it is time to share as well.
We are unable to work on the house 24/7, though we might want to. It would be finished by now if that was the case. It's not anywhere near it. But we have completed some monumental tasks, and I am very proud of the work we've done. We mostly work during the weekends, though the summer is a different animal and we work during the week then as well.
Future posts will include topics such as:
In-place restoration of both steel casement and wooden sash windows
Wiring
Plumbing
Chimneys
Putting in a new window
And many others of varying scopes.
I'm excited to share with everyone!
We have learned much in the interval between then and now. We have benefitted from the blogs of other people with old houses, and feel it is time to share as well.
We are unable to work on the house 24/7, though we might want to. It would be finished by now if that was the case. It's not anywhere near it. But we have completed some monumental tasks, and I am very proud of the work we've done. We mostly work during the weekends, though the summer is a different animal and we work during the week then as well.
Future posts will include topics such as:
In-place restoration of both steel casement and wooden sash windows
Wiring
Plumbing
Chimneys
Putting in a new window
And many others of varying scopes.
I'm excited to share with everyone!
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