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!

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!

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).

Back with some pics!

It's been a while since I have reported anything, but armed with a new camera I intend to post some fun pictures of the progress on the house this week. Here is the first slew:

This is a picture of the bathroom baseboards, painted and ready to cut and install. To accomplish that goal, I needed to buy some tools.


So I am now the proud owner of an air compressor (known as a "pancake" compressor due to its small, flat tank), 3 different types of nail gun to run with it (the one that shoots the biggest nails, 2 inches long, is the one shown in the picture)...
... and something called a compound miter saw. This saw rotates on 2 axes, allowing me to create nice beveled cuts and fit the baseboards together with the proper 45 degree angle join.


I was in a hurry to get these boards down because Dave, a contractor who worked with Jack, offered to come help me with some of my plumbing challenges. I helped him with some computer work a while back, and I guess we have become a part of that "barter is on the rise in troubled economic times" statistic.

Dave was scheduled to come out on Sunday, leaving me Saturday, basically, to get the bathroom ready for the fixtures.

Here is a picture of the work in progress. The baseboards are really just a flat board with a piece of molding on top, caulked and painted to look like one piece. You may also note that I have painted the bathroom a nice springy green color, known as "Rice Paddy" in Sherwin-Williamese.


I was able to get all of the baseboards cut and installed, thanks to Becky taking off a little early from her job and assisting me Saturday afternoon. Sunday, Dave showed up at 9 am and we worked until late afternoon, 4 or 5, and I am really, really appreciative of his skill and ability to get things done. Here are a few pics of the plumbing work in progress:


Meanwhile, I was looking at the tub and realized I had forgotten to paint the outside! It had been in storage (and actually filled with other stuff in the back of the house) for so long that when we finally pulled it out I realized it needed some touching up. So, one full can of white semigloss spraypaint later, here it is:

I also touched up the feet with a "brushed nickel" color spraypaint:


After a good bit of effor we got the tub moved into the bathroom, and now there is plenty of room! I will get some better pictures of this tomorrow.

And, finally, after much cursing and leveraging of toggle-bolts to hold it in place, the corner pedestal sink is installed and fully functional! Thanks again Dave!

Pictures!

Owing to a number of circumstances, from a wonderful weekend trip with Dad to Natchitoches, several weeks/weekends of Mardi Gras oriented distractions, and then finally being out of the habit of putting anything up on the web, progress on the house was a bit, well, relaxed. And, frankly, that has kind of applied to the blog, too.

This weekend, however, saw the addition of sheetrock to the new wall, and I have to say I think it's going to look just fine. It's also gotten me back in the mood to share, so here is a nice photo catalogue of some my social activities of the past couple of months. I'll upload some pics of the progress on the house in another post.

From my trip to Natchitoches with Dad:

This was a great trip! We enjoyed wonderful weather, an awesome Bed and Breakfast about a block away from Natchitoches' historic Front Street, some delicious food, nature hiking, and even a round of golf on Northwestern's golf course. We also got to drive around the area and talk about a lot of family (mostly Dad's) history.

On the way up, we drove by Melrose Plantation, historic home of the painter Clementine Hunter. It wasn't open for tours, so I snapped a couple of pics with my phone and off we went.

After driving around Cloutierville, where we discovered to our absolute horror that the historic Kate Chopin house had burned to the ground, we made our way into town and enjoyed some poboys on Front Street. We played a round of golf, checked in at our B&B, cleaned up, and then ate dinner at a great seafood place called Antoon's, right on the river. The owner of Antoon's, who unfortunately we missed, is the son of the town barber (who my father remembers as one of the only other really avid fishermen on Cane River when he was growing up). We enjoyed delicious food and drank a couple of glasses of red while we watched the moon come up over the far bank. It was a really nice experience. We grabbed a movie and woke up early the next morning to have a steaming cup of coffee on the back porch of our Bed and Breakfast. Here is the porch:


And here are some shots from the porch that morning:






All of the guests of this B&B, the Jefferson House (which I recommend highly), had attended a Mardi Gras ball the night before, and we were the only guests stirring early in the morning. We took a little drive through the town, and when we returned, the proprietors Herman and Arleen Mayeux had breakfast ready. While we ate, we were subject to the cute begging of their two Dachshunds. After they realized that they were dealing with experienced dog-begging-resistors, they curled up in the corner for a nap:


After breakfast, we drove around all over the area, looking at different places Dad had spent time growing up. We ended up in Kisatchie National Forest, where we took a nature hike through land that Dad had camped out / hunted on in his youth. Here are a few pics from the nature hike we did at Longleaf Vista in Kisatchie:





Following our hike, we were a little worried about getting back to Lafayette (and for me, all the way from there to NO) at a decent time, but we couldn't resist heading to Clarence, LA to get a long-awaited taste of Grayson's Barbeque, some of the best barbeque in that part of the state. We arrived at the place in what appeared to be the post-church rush, but they handled our order very quickly and we even got an order of ribs to bring home to Mom. Here is a shot of me outside this mecca of meat:


Following that, we headed home with our bellies full and smiles on our faces.

From Valentine's Day weekend:

Becky and I had a wonderful Valentine's day weekend. There were some parades, but mostly we celebrated a day early by having a night out in the quarter. We began by meeting up at Monaghan's Irish Rose on Conti for a beer, then scooted over to EAT! on Dumaine St. The meal was pretty good, affordable and sans corkage fee for the bottle of wine we brought, but the service was a bit lacking. Fortunately, we were ready to have a good time so we did not let that faze us!

Then we walked over to the House of Blues to see the Old Crow Medicine Show, a great band playing a sort of bluegrass-y folk with a great energy. The show was sold out, but we had purchased tickets the week before and were good to go.



It was an incredible show, and the encore, which ran 4 songs, ended with covers of Neil Young's Tonight's the Night and David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust.

The following day saw some of a parade, but the weather was threatening and I had plans to cook Becky a steak dinner for Valentine's Day, so we walked the 2 blocks back to the apartment a little early. We were a little fatigued from our late night the evening prior and dinner at home was a very nice way to relax.

From various Mardi Gras happenings:

Becky Goes Bananas Mardi Gras day!

This Dragon costume was pretty sweet.

Becky and me, Mardi Gras Day

Proteus Float

Proteus

Nick and Allie's dog Spartacus, dressed as Elvis!

Becky, preparing some essentials for her ride in the Krewe of Mid-City

That's Becky and Dede, right in the center of this picture. Wait! or are they further right?!? Becky! Becky! Throw me something!!!

Here is Becky and Dede's float, #17!

This is a shot from my parade, Muses, when we stopped in front of Gallier Hall.

Kenny and Andrea and me hanging out before the Muses parade.

On Sunday before Mardi Gras, we went to see the Krewe of Barkus, which I think I am going to do every year from now on. Hundreds of costumed dogs, how could you lose? This year, the theme was Batmutt: The Bark Knight, but all I got was a picture of this hot dog somehow.

If you look closely, you will see that there is a Mardi Gras Tiger inside of this parked truck...

This dude, who we saw on Mardi Gras day outside of Molly's, was clearly living the High Life. Here's to you, sir.