Dave was back in action as we rapidly tore out an old a/c unit, and he worked some magic to get this door installed before we were hit with an afternoon rain.
Here are some pics:
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Slip out the back, Jack
Previously, the back yard could only be accessed by the two narrow pathways along the side of the house. It has been my intention to add a door back there for much more functional access to the yard.
Dave was back in action as we rapidly tore out an old a/c unit, and he worked some magic to get this door installed before we were hit with an afternoon rain.
Here are some pics:
Dave was back in action as we rapidly tore out an old a/c unit, and he worked some magic to get this door installed before we were hit with an afternoon rain.
Here are some pics:
Demolition!
Last weekend, Jack came by with his handy reciprocating saw to help tear down the shed. We made a huge mess, but we got that eyesore demolished!
Here are some pics:
Here are some pics:
Monday, July 20, 2009
Shed, your days are numbered!
One of the biggest obstacles currently preventing me from moving in to this house is the current lack of hot water on my side of the double. The gas line to the hot water heater, which ran the length of the house, was allowed by the previous owner(s) to deteriorate to a dangerous level of unusability. In order to get the furnace running last winter (to keep the interior at an appropriate temperature for the floor refininshing), I was forced to cut and cap the bad line, which completely disconnected the hot water heater from the gas system. Thus, no hot water for many moons now.
I have decided that I want to put in a tankless hot water heater, and mount it to the back of my house. Unfortunately there was a very large, dilapidated problem standing right in the way of progress: the shed. This shed clearly had a colorful history. It had obviously been Frankenstein'd together using floorboards (for door material, mind you), old beams, and most disturbingly, parts of other, prior sheds. One wall contained an old window oriented the wrong way... crazy.
The shed was so dilapidated, in fact, that when I bought the house my insurance company said I had to "do something with it" or they wouldn't insure me. So last summer we spent a weekend or two re-roofing it and putting support framing and some sheeting on the outside. I painted it and it looked ok, from the outside, but man! The shed was divided in two by load-bearing, unremovable wall. In one half, my non-functioning water heater and the washing machine. In the other, my tenant's actual water heater and the dryer. What this meant was that, in order to move a load of laundry from the washer to the drier, you had to carry the clothes out of the shed, all the way around to the other side.
Relevant to my immediate plans, the shed was taking up space on the back of the house where I want to move the water heater. And really, I have been looking forward to getting this thing torn down for over a year...
Now, in order to be able to tear down the shed, we had some major work to do for my tenant first. We had to a) figure out a new location for her hot water heater and b) ensure that she still had a place to do laundry. Enter Dave, who has been an amazing help to me. He's the guy that put in the plumbing for the bathroom renovation a few weeks ago.
Step one: Move water heater from shed to tenant's closet:
Attach plumbing:
Install venting with blue, fire-resistant caulk:
(Note: expect funny looks when you ask for "FireCaulk" at Home Depot)
Outside:
Inside:
Squeeze Stackable washer and drier into closet next to water heater:
Add louvered doors to hide the plumbing ugliness:
And Voila! Now we are much closer to tearing down the shed, and then installing hot water on the owner's side!
I have decided that I want to put in a tankless hot water heater, and mount it to the back of my house. Unfortunately there was a very large, dilapidated problem standing right in the way of progress: the shed. This shed clearly had a colorful history. It had obviously been Frankenstein'd together using floorboards (for door material, mind you), old beams, and most disturbingly, parts of other, prior sheds. One wall contained an old window oriented the wrong way... crazy.
The shed was so dilapidated, in fact, that when I bought the house my insurance company said I had to "do something with it" or they wouldn't insure me. So last summer we spent a weekend or two re-roofing it and putting support framing and some sheeting on the outside. I painted it and it looked ok, from the outside, but man! The shed was divided in two by load-bearing, unremovable wall. In one half, my non-functioning water heater and the washing machine. In the other, my tenant's actual water heater and the dryer. What this meant was that, in order to move a load of laundry from the washer to the drier, you had to carry the clothes out of the shed, all the way around to the other side.
Relevant to my immediate plans, the shed was taking up space on the back of the house where I want to move the water heater. And really, I have been looking forward to getting this thing torn down for over a year...
Now, in order to be able to tear down the shed, we had some major work to do for my tenant first. We had to a) figure out a new location for her hot water heater and b) ensure that she still had a place to do laundry. Enter Dave, who has been an amazing help to me. He's the guy that put in the plumbing for the bathroom renovation a few weeks ago.
Step one: Move water heater from shed to tenant's closet:
Attach plumbing:
Install venting with blue, fire-resistant caulk:
(Note: expect funny looks when you ask for "FireCaulk" at Home Depot)
Outside:
Inside:
Squeeze Stackable washer and drier into closet next to water heater:
Add louvered doors to hide the plumbing ugliness:
And Voila! Now we are much closer to tearing down the shed, and then installing hot water on the owner's side!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Bricks and other big goings-on
Since my last post a few projects at the house have been moving forward pretty quickly. For one, we are painting the kitchen cabinets a nice dark brown (Black Bean at Sherwin-Williams). I have one pic from this project but will document it in greater detail next week.
Here is a quick shot of the work in progress:
This post is really about another project, however, one that sort of took me by surprise. See, I went by Jack's place this weekend as I knew he was working with Matt, Sylvia, and Dave to install windows. After I "helped" with that project (mostly by staying out of the way), we went for beers and Matt asked me why I had never contacted their mason regarding repointing the brick fireplaces/chimneys in my house. I told him I had never gotten the number, and minutes later I was on the phone with Esteban, a talented Honduran mason looking for work. We agreed to meet later in the day so he could give me a price.
He showed up, evaluated the chimneys, and promptly quoted me a price so good I really didn't even want to say "let me think about it." Instead, the words that came out of my mouth next were "How long will it take you and when can you start?" He smiled at me and asked if I would meet him at the house the following morning. So, just like that, the brickwork is going to get some desperately needed attention.
The following morning, Esteban showed up with his "cousin" Dino. These guys got right to work scraping the old mortar out from between the bricks. I wish I had known what a ridiculous amount of dust and mess this was going to make. Here is a picture of one of the mantles covered with some of the dust:
Now, imagine that multiplied by fifty, with a good portion of it dropped from a height approaching 12 feet, creating billowing clouds of mortar dust, and you get the idea. This shot shows how dusty it was getting:
After the scraping, it was time to re-mortar the joints! Here is Esteban applying the mortar:
A big item I was really concerned about was the fireplace in the kitchen. The opening in the fireplace had been covered by a screen in what appeared to be an effort to prevent anything from coming down the chimney? The opening had also been filled with a bunch of extra bricks, and the whole affair was just a mess. In the following picture you can also see the area down the right-hand side was in need of repair and that there are holes all in the mortar:
Here is a picture of the same fireplace after the mortar was cleaned:
And, finished and almost dry:
Here is a picture of the re-mortared front of one of the fireplaces (above the mantle):
And a couple more of the finished fireplaces:
Did I mention that this great price included re-pointing the brick in the attic and on the roof? These guys asked me to meet them at 6:30 AM one day, and 5:30 AM another to ensure that they could get some good work in before the attic became too "caliente" to continue working. Don't panic, anyone (Mom): Esteban has experience working on this type of roof.
An interesting story... as the guys were cleaning up, I noticed a rather large water puddle under the plastic in the kitchen. Given that I have put a lot of effort into those floors, of course I was quite concerned. I immediately pulled up the plastic and completely wiped down the affected area, and to my relief there appeared to be no lasting damage. At the time, I assumed something had spilled, but when I returned to the area ten minutes later, I noticed the water pooling again. Upon further investigation, I determined that the water was coming from the dishwasher, an appliance that hasn't even been turned on in over a year. I opened it to find it filled with water about 2 inches deep, and this water didn't seem to be draining. I removed the kick plate and saw a hose, very old, that was leaking at the place it joined the dishwasher. After fiddling with it a little more, I managed to accidentally disconnect the hose (which I thought was the drain hose but turned out to be a pressurized supply line!) and cause a major leak / spray from under the dishwasher! PANIC! I quickly ran outside to turn off the water, and pulled out the dishwasher to find a very disgusting under-counter space, now all soggy with water/dust/grease and small items lost from lives past... Thank goodness for rubber gloves and a good wet/dry shop vac. i cleaned up all the water, vacuumed out this space, turned off the water supply to the dishwasher and restored water service to the house. At that point, Esteban had finished. I inspected the work and called it a day.
Oh... and if anyone is getting rid of a nice, stainless steel dishwasher, or wants to come pick up the dishwasher of terror (for free), let me know!
Here is a quick shot of the work in progress:
This post is really about another project, however, one that sort of took me by surprise. See, I went by Jack's place this weekend as I knew he was working with Matt, Sylvia, and Dave to install windows. After I "helped" with that project (mostly by staying out of the way), we went for beers and Matt asked me why I had never contacted their mason regarding repointing the brick fireplaces/chimneys in my house. I told him I had never gotten the number, and minutes later I was on the phone with Esteban, a talented Honduran mason looking for work. We agreed to meet later in the day so he could give me a price.
He showed up, evaluated the chimneys, and promptly quoted me a price so good I really didn't even want to say "let me think about it." Instead, the words that came out of my mouth next were "How long will it take you and when can you start?" He smiled at me and asked if I would meet him at the house the following morning. So, just like that, the brickwork is going to get some desperately needed attention.
The following morning, Esteban showed up with his "cousin" Dino. These guys got right to work scraping the old mortar out from between the bricks. I wish I had known what a ridiculous amount of dust and mess this was going to make. Here is a picture of one of the mantles covered with some of the dust:
Now, imagine that multiplied by fifty, with a good portion of it dropped from a height approaching 12 feet, creating billowing clouds of mortar dust, and you get the idea. This shot shows how dusty it was getting:
After the scraping, it was time to re-mortar the joints! Here is Esteban applying the mortar:
A big item I was really concerned about was the fireplace in the kitchen. The opening in the fireplace had been covered by a screen in what appeared to be an effort to prevent anything from coming down the chimney? The opening had also been filled with a bunch of extra bricks, and the whole affair was just a mess. In the following picture you can also see the area down the right-hand side was in need of repair and that there are holes all in the mortar:
Here is a picture of the same fireplace after the mortar was cleaned:
And, finished and almost dry:
Here is a picture of the re-mortared front of one of the fireplaces (above the mantle):
And a couple more of the finished fireplaces:
Did I mention that this great price included re-pointing the brick in the attic and on the roof? These guys asked me to meet them at 6:30 AM one day, and 5:30 AM another to ensure that they could get some good work in before the attic became too "caliente" to continue working. Don't panic, anyone (Mom): Esteban has experience working on this type of roof.
An interesting story... as the guys were cleaning up, I noticed a rather large water puddle under the plastic in the kitchen. Given that I have put a lot of effort into those floors, of course I was quite concerned. I immediately pulled up the plastic and completely wiped down the affected area, and to my relief there appeared to be no lasting damage. At the time, I assumed something had spilled, but when I returned to the area ten minutes later, I noticed the water pooling again. Upon further investigation, I determined that the water was coming from the dishwasher, an appliance that hasn't even been turned on in over a year. I opened it to find it filled with water about 2 inches deep, and this water didn't seem to be draining. I removed the kick plate and saw a hose, very old, that was leaking at the place it joined the dishwasher. After fiddling with it a little more, I managed to accidentally disconnect the hose (which I thought was the drain hose but turned out to be a pressurized supply line!) and cause a major leak / spray from under the dishwasher! PANIC! I quickly ran outside to turn off the water, and pulled out the dishwasher to find a very disgusting under-counter space, now all soggy with water/dust/grease and small items lost from lives past... Thank goodness for rubber gloves and a good wet/dry shop vac. i cleaned up all the water, vacuumed out this space, turned off the water supply to the dishwasher and restored water service to the house. At that point, Esteban had finished. I inspected the work and called it a day.
Oh... and if anyone is getting rid of a nice, stainless steel dishwasher, or wants to come pick up the dishwasher of terror (for free), let me know!
Monday, June 1, 2009
Weekend Update
This weekend was not my most productive to date, and I am afraid that the next few weekends won't bring much progress either. While the bathroom project nears completion, I am turning my attention to other matters. I suspect there is a big "gotcha" waiting for me when I try to put up my shower-curtain-rod assembly (which is fairly complicated due to the whole claw-foot tub thing) and find the light-heat-fan assembly seems to be in the way. Oh well, cross that bridge later. Right now, my energies are focused on wrapping up the plaster/skimcoat repairs in the bedroom.
Here is a picture of the antique light fixture that I took out of the bathroom. I touched it up with some of the same paint used on the tub's claw feet, and i think it came out pretty nicely.
I was hoping it would be visible through the transom window from the den, and it looks like that might work out.
Also this weekend, Becky and I had a final breakfast at the Bluebird Cafe on Prytania St. before it closed down for good on Sunday. The Bluebird has been one of my favorite weekend breakfast places since I moved here, and I am terribly sorry to see it go. Here is a picture of the line 20 minutes before it opened on Saturday, its second-to-last day of business.
They had decorated the inside with bluebird balloons everywhere.
For some better pictures, I found this Flickr album too. RIP, Bluebird.
Finally, a picture of the washer-dryer stack I picked up off of craigslist for 300 bucks. Woohoo! Free indoor laundry!
The procurement of this item was an adventure in and of itself, invoving a trip to Lacombe in a borrowed truck, a night out at Sal and Judy's restaurant, emergency freeway stops and a drunken, near-death experience... but that's a story for another occasion, and no, I was not the one drunk or near death (this time).
Here is a picture of the antique light fixture that I took out of the bathroom. I touched it up with some of the same paint used on the tub's claw feet, and i think it came out pretty nicely.
I was hoping it would be visible through the transom window from the den, and it looks like that might work out.
Also this weekend, Becky and I had a final breakfast at the Bluebird Cafe on Prytania St. before it closed down for good on Sunday. The Bluebird has been one of my favorite weekend breakfast places since I moved here, and I am terribly sorry to see it go. Here is a picture of the line 20 minutes before it opened on Saturday, its second-to-last day of business.
They had decorated the inside with bluebird balloons everywhere.
For some better pictures, I found this Flickr album too. RIP, Bluebird.
Finally, a picture of the washer-dryer stack I picked up off of craigslist for 300 bucks. Woohoo! Free indoor laundry!
The procurement of this item was an adventure in and of itself, invoving a trip to Lacombe in a borrowed truck, a night out at Sal and Judy's restaurant, emergency freeway stops and a drunken, near-death experience... but that's a story for another occasion, and no, I was not the one drunk or near death (this time).
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