state of the interior...more demo

the interior is almost ready for the installation of the new beams and removal of the old walls...

just needs one more day of picking the framing clean of nails and removing any plaster remnants.

but we are still hoping to get the new deck framed before we start the interior framing...if the weather holds out for one more week!


this is why i always wear a dust mask during demo:

i cant photograph the interior with a flash, it picks up all of the dust (that you cant see with the naked eye)!

bad idea: the little slot in the back of the medicine cabinet where you deposit used razor blades!

so where do all those used razor blades go?...

in the bottom of the wall!  and they wait there until some poor future remodeler decides to rip the wall down. gross.

it was way too cold to work outside today- the wind chill made it feel like 10 degrees, and it actually snowed.  so we decided to work on more interior demo.

no more toilet in the entry foyer:

bye bye!

sorry about the bad picture quality...i forgot my camera and had to use my phone

 

old kitchen/ future bath: 

making progress!

shutters in progress

    lowe's severe weather raised panel shutters

siding update

we are almost finished installing the siding...

here is the before (in case you forgot!):

 

here is the back:

and what it used to look like:

these are ladder jacks. they clamp onto the ladder so that you can span a board across them to provide scaffolding- definitely makes work easier!

it's not blue!

we got this siding at home depot because the only grey that lowe's carried was a light, silvery grey and we wanted something darker. actually wish it was even darker, but this will do.  the color is called granite.

it looks blue in these pictures, but its actually a warmish grey.  in fact, this is the actual color:

weird how it looks blue. i almost dont want to post these!

renovation can be hazardous to your health

we are ready to start installing the new vinyl siding, but first- all of the vinyl trim needs to be installed

you need to trim out every edge, corner, top and bottom of a wall...and you need to trim around every door and window.

installing vinyl siding may be one of the easiest do-it-yourself projects--you just need to know a few important installation tips and you are good to go! for example, the first time i installed it i was surprised to learn that you don't hammer the nails in tight, you leave a little slack because the siding expands and contracts with fluctuations in temperature- notice that the nailing flange has slotted holes which help allow for this movement.

you use a trim called j-channel around windows and doors.  it creates a slot to receive the siding panels. (and it looks like a J in cross-section)

over all doors and windows, the bottom side of each end of the J-channel is cut and bent downward so that any water caught in the channel in these areas will be shed away and down the side channels.

the corner boards are also going in 

and all of the windows have been caulked and painted

which brings me to this question:
why is it that so many standard construction materials are incredibly toxic? 

this is the label from DAP caulk....stuff that you typically squirt along seams and gaps, then you take your BARE finger and run it along the bead of caulk to smooth it out (and further push it into the gap)

harmful if absorbed through the skin?  are you serious?

of course i read the label AFTER i used the product all day yesterday- so much that i was picking it out from around my finger nails when i was finished!  who wears gloves when they are caulking?

and then i read the label on the low-temp paint, and it was basically the same-it also contains toxic cancer-causing chemicals.

ugh!

so the next time i caulk anything i am going to try wearing surgical gloves...that should be interesting!
:)


let's finish with something nice....ooo a sunset:

a comedy of errors...

got to the house monday morning and noticed a CRACK in a NEW window!!!

ugh!

we are assuming it was caused by a projectile from the lawn mower and not a drive-by...the lawn was cut this weekend and i am sure there were nails, etc still scattered about.   

then, i was removing the old fence from the backyard and decided to cut the posts below grade and bury them and let nature take its course.  they are embedded in a ball of concrete a few feet below the surface, so i figured this was my best option for removal. (don't you judge me!)

i used our reciprocating saw- the one with the plug because it is more powerful than the one with the battery pack...

the sawblade sheared completely off!  and stuck in the post!

this was after i attempted to continue to remove paint from the chimney, using our dewalt drill- the one with the plug because its more powerful than the one with the battery pack.

and i killed it!  burned out the motor!

:(

scott came to my rescue and changed out the blade and finished the chop (he couldnt believe i broke the sawblade clean off the saws-all, i mean- it's called a SAWS-ALL for a reason!)   

scott came to my rescue and bought a brand NEW dewalt drill- the kind you plug in...and it has a HANDLE!  love it!

so all that aside...some stuff actually gone done.  scott replaced the old bulkhead doors.

and he re-trimmed the garage door...the old trim was a bit rotten and cracked.

we also finished trimming out all of the windows and caulked/prepped them for paint.  we used rot-free pvc exterior trim/brickmold to trim out the windows.

oh, and last but not least, my recently retired mom stopped by to start ripping out the upstairs bathroom...she is a chip off the ol' block!

:)

Architects live with their mistakes; Doctors bury them

I made a mistake...and when I asked scott if we could fix it, he said "THERE ARE NO CHANGE ORDERS ON THIS JOB!"     ha ha he is right, mean, but right.  we cant go backwards no matter what.

all the windows are now installed.

the window in the future first floor bathroom had to be reframed a bit smaller in order to accommodate the bath fixtures (i didnt want the window partly in the shower, and partly out of the shower) 

the 'mistake' was not centering the new window in the old opening...cause now there isnt much space to the left of the window for the vanity/mirror.  This might just send me back to the drawing board! (actually, part of the mistake was NOT drawing the window...I should be ashamed of myself!)

the corner windows had to be framed smaller because of the new kitchen cabinets- the kitchen sink will be located in this corner.

lots of natural light now-with the doors!

the back yard feels a bit bigger now that the apple tree is gone

i somehow found myself back up the ladder today, in the windy cold weather, stripping more paint from the bricks.

money well spent...hire a landscaper!

the landscaper came today and removed all 6 of the stumps and roots that were left after i cut down the shrubs

what took them 3 hours, would have taken me 36-- not to mention the cuts, bruises, and sore muscles that were averted!  this was well worth the money!

they also cleaned up all of the leaves and cut down a small apple tree that was in the back yard.   i will have better pictures to post tomorrow-  (forgot my camera today, this was taken with my phone, at the end of the day, when the sun was setting...and i was so excited to see the stumps removed that my hands were shaking!)

window replacement

psychedelic discovery

i found these amazing pencil drawings rolled up and stored in a closet

this guy was called "Sodvockner"

and the drawings were numbered, how funny.

they were drawn on the back of old posters.  i have no idea when they were made, but there are pretty groovy references to the 60's...this monster is giving the peace sign!

this one makes me sad.

this one makes me scared.  and its drawing number 775577...ha!

buck n' cold

I was on my way to the house last week when I was actually thinking 'wow, i have a really nice commute now,  15 minutes door-to-door, and I drive through a quaint pastoral town filled with horse farms and barns and at that very moment a buck ran by---awwwww perfect!

later, at "the office"

yup, that's me getting ready to sand the exterior sills in 40 degree weather.  I think I heard the neighbor's dogs snickering. 

so, we are trying to preserve the existing exterior window sills- they are quite weathered (sorry, no before pic-but they were grey and cracked), but after a good sanding and filling, they look 'almost' new. 

pay no attention to the types of terribly bad-for-you snacks that we keep at "the office"

some sills are beyond repair, and will have to be replaced. 

i pulled that chunck of sill off with my hands.

so here is the test/mocked up window.  with new replacement window, new pvc brick moulding and existing sanded/painted sill. 

i still need to caulk all the exterior joints, but its TOO COLD TO CAULK!

thank goodness for low temperature paint.

not a perfect sill, but much better than where it started!