Been awhile

Been a couple weeks since I posted.
I think last Saturday I started to install the crown around the tops of the kitchen cabinets, I only got two uppers finished. It takes me a long time to visualize the angles out in my head before I make any cuts. I guess I am overly cautious and want to make sure I don't mess up and waste the wood I am cutting. I bought two new saw blades for the chop saw, the hickory is so hard to cut and I could see that only after about 5 cuts the blade was having a hard time getting through the wood. I think there are about a dozen more cuts to do then I should have the crown finished.

Today, I caulked and painted the six windows on the backside of the house. Two are the original and the other four were put in about eight years ago. The original windows I caulked shut. There was quite a bit of air coming through and around the frames this past winter. I just figured until I can get them replaced, and I don't open them, I thought I might as well just seal them as best as I can.
The other four, are about 8 years old but the wood surrounding them is still the original wood, and in bad shape along with the caulk it was separating pretty good causing a few good sized gaps between the window and the wood frame. I used Behr exterior paint. A bit more expensive but I think it is worth the money.
I have to say that it went on really well and soaked in pretty good. Guess that is an indication of the old paint being just beat to death by the west sun and weather. I also used colored caulk (brown) to help blend in better. The rest of the house had all the windows replaced about six years ago and the company that did them wrapped all the exterior wood in aluminium. So those don't need any repainting. They still need some touch up with caulk to fill in the gaps that are drying out. I want to get as much done on the exterior before I have to leave for training this fall and get the house sealed. Don't need any worries about heating the outside again this winter.

About three weeks ago I had the roof leak in the valley above the front door. I called a guy to come look and see if he could patch things up to get me by for a while longer. Well it rained again two weekends ago and I still had leaking, this time in another room. The front room has a basketball sized bulge in the ceiling and now the front porch hallway has some bulging going on now. I planned on replacing the front room ceiling but did not want to do the hallway. Fucking sucks. Now I am looking at a roof replacement.
The insurance company was of no help and only offered to patch the roof and patch the ceiling. Just what I need, another freakin patch job by some hack that only State Farm approves of. Maybe it is my agent but they have fallen into the "they suck" basket as far as I am concerned. I will be parting ways with them soon.
The last week I have had three guys come look at the roof and give me quotes. The fourth never showed up. One isn't bad on price, the second wants to do a total tear off and replacement, and the third I had to do some price bickering to get him to come down a bit. It is still going to cost over $6000 and that is just a layover and not a tear off. The high side bid was over $10000, way out of my range.
Wednesday I stumbled into Home Depot and caught a sale on 30 year shingles, but the sale ended that night. I ran across the street to Menards and their cheapest shingle was still more expensive per bundle than the ones HD had. So I plunked down $2300 that night, and another $400 or so for the rest of the stuff, nails, starter strip, flashing, etc. Really sucks! I was hoping to get another 10 years out of the roof.
When the last roof guy was topside, he said he saw where who ever last put the roof on that they had cut other shingles on top of what was already laid down and sliced right through the flashing and shingles creating a pretty good sized gap for water to seap in. This last rain also showed another leak around the chimney where the flashing has failed prematurely from improper installation.
The neighbor did warn me that some gin heads and druggies did the last roof install. They also tore out all the copper flashing for good measure in case a normal person would want the rain to stay outside vice coming through. The guys are suppose to start Monday on the layover, so I am hoping that everything gets sealed up before the next rain, which is suppose to be Monday!
To take some frustration out over this past weeks roof "event" I moved 10 wheelbarrows of white marble rock across the street to my neighbors house. I had a ton of it around the house from the PO and this was the last of it and by far the biggest area to be removed. A few months ago I saw him and his wife outside pulling all their rock up, cleaning it, putting down a weed barrier and replacing what they had. I watched this for a weekend and thought I would go ask if they were going to buy more to add to their "pile". George and Brenda are nice people, I offered my white marble up and would even haul it over if they would take it. Deal struck! So all in all they got about 15 loads from me.
It saves me from having to pay someone to haul it away and they can finish their landscaping. How cool is that?! Now I need to work a deal out with someone to pull the lilac stumps out. Any takers?
Wish I took a picture of their front sidewalk, 10 loads of rock sitting in front of the house. That's where they wanted it!
Sunday? I need to tear a wall out in the basement and get it into the pile in the garage. I found a guy to haul all my debris away this coming week and he said to get all I could before he comes again.

Counter Tops

Finally had the counter tops delivered and installed today. They turned out pretty good.
All I have is a camera phone and the images are pretty shitty, sorry about that. I went through a local guy that is actually part of a franchise called Kitchen Solvers. Marty did a great job and was in and out in about 1 1/2 hours. I can't say that they (Kitchen Solvers) are the cheapest, actually he came in on the high end but I didnt have to deal with cutting a hole for the sink, or mess with the out of square corners on the walls. So, for me, it was worth the few extra dollars to have someone else make the mistakes. I did check Home Depot, and Menards on pricing and like I said Menards came in way below, but just didn't give a shit about after the sale service. Buy it or "what ever".




This is a shot of the plumbing after I got the sink reinstalled. The next pic is just a shot of the cabinet that might be sitting to high and not allow the crown to fit properly. I don't know yet will have to see how things pan out this weekend when I put it all together.

Sugar doing what she does best.

Found some pics on my phone that I took Fathers Day weekend after a storm blew through. Although the pictures don't do justice to the way the colors were just jumping out of the clouds. It was about 8 pm when I took these out on a farm north of where I live. Man it was quiet out there.

The first thought that struck me was in the winter the wind and snow must blow through here with a vengence. But it was quiet.

Here are a few shots of my nephew stuffing his face the weekend that my sister came back for a visit. He was getting ready to cry cause mom left the room.

Shocking, I am an alien and that the way I roll.

Again, I want to thank Beth and Rob. Especially Rob, he did the grunt work by helping me with picking up the washer and dryer today, then lifting the damn things downstairs into the basement. I am so out of shape my biceps are hurting today.

Below are a few pics of the laundry room taking shape

I made a box of 3/4" ply to set the dryer on. It really worked out well. Came out to be the right height for when you take the clothes out of the washer and into the dryer. Quite proud of myself actually.

The center pic is a temporary setup for the dryer vent. I have a trunk full of glass blocks that I bought and when the weather gets a bit warmer I will replace the old windows for the blocks. There is a dryer vent block that I bought also and will fit nicely. and make some of the unsightliness disappear.

When I bought the power cord for the dryer I purchased a 4 prong connector vice a 3 prong. I took it (the cord) out of the package, I thought "lets see if this thing plugs in to the outlet" and make certain that I have the correct cord.

Normally a sane person of my age would not only make sure that the circuit breaker is off but also double-check to make sure the circuit is off. I have to interject here that none of the breakers are labeled and I only guessing as to which was the correct breaker to be turned off. But not "checking" at all makes the last sentence moot.

So there I am standing looking at a large 30 amp circuit, a large plug in my right hand, and 3 bear copper terminals hanging at the other end of the cord. Lets plug this sucker in......hard going; Somewhere along the way my common sense checked out and went to Mexico for the moment, why the hell Mr. Common Sense left me at that very second I have pondered for most of the day; I think I might give it a little bit a harder push and BANG! WHOOSH! and blast of warm air hit my face, the strange smell of ozone enveloped my head. I kind of stood there and thought, what the fuck are you doing!? you crazy bastard. I could still be down there in the basement sizzling and smelling like beef jerky (the good stuff, not some generic brand) when the ozone cleared, all 3 copper ends of the cord were fused together and I was looking around for my buddy Mr. Common Sense and I am sure I had a look like a little kid that just took candy from the Brachs display at the grocery store and ate a whole handful without mom seeing.

Needless to say, I found the proper breaker for the dryer after that little expirence. Funny how a tripped breaker will click over to the right when it expirences a surge and let you know which is the proper one.

I was in such a hurry to get things hooked up that I didn't take that extra second to stop and think. I am such a dork, and the only reason I am still here to type this today is that there must be an alien inside my body that took control of my mind for that split second. What a freaking dummy I am.

Saftey is not an accident!

On Wednesday I had Sears come over and measure the kitchen and give me a quote for new cabinets. No frills, $14,000. I declined the nice mans sales pitch. Today I went and sat over at Menards for an hour and a half and went through the design process again. Just the cabinets, me installing and with the counter tops. $4600. Pretty much the same style and counters. Sears offers Wilsonart brand formica and wanted $2000, Menards offers Formica brand formica for $200. Makes you think a bit about the mark-up involved, and the labor. My next pricing will be the RTA cabinets.

A butt load

Here is the rule, it takes ten butt loads to equal one shit load. So I only have a butt load of pictures today.
Here was my thought, take the room under the kitchen and make it a laundry room. So's off I go this morning cleaning things up and found the bottom plate to this wall was GONE! Like it wasn't even there. The first two images are of the bottom of the wall. I didn't really want to blow this wall out but did it anyway. Cool pile of crap huh?

I couldn't save anything as the wood literally splintered as I tried to take it off the "wall" Where did I put all the debris? Well in the garage of course!

I bought a 5 gal. bucket of Dry Lock and painted the cement for the "just in case" scenario of water coming in this end of the house.

Here is a question for all: At what point does a dust mask reach the end of its life?

You tell me. On the left, dirtay, on the right, new.

I have to take a moment and thank Beth and her husband Rob for meeting me at Menards with their truck and helping me bring home some 2x4's and other "stuff" You guys are truly AWESOME! and great people!

These are the pics of the room getting framed out.



I went to look for a replacement window but could not find any at the stores. The window(s) are such an odd size (30x23, WxH) that I will have to order what I need to replace all the basement windows. I did find one that would fit, but I really didn't want to be outside in the mud, mucking around trying to get the window to fit in the waning sunlight.

And the last pic? Well, Sugar of course! Lounging on the bed. How can you get mad at total cuteness laying on your bed?

I see the light

There is a metaphor there that is for Beth at work. Thanks Beth, thanks for the help and I will continue to bend your ear.

But there is another reason for seeing the light, and it is not coming from the drawer.


I have been secretly buying the CFL bulbs as I see a good price on them at the store. Why secretly? I don't want to be ostracized by the evil, dirty burning coal industry. But Home Depot has been having a regular running deal on the Dairy Queen looking bulbs for a few weeks now. four bulbs for $4 dollars. So I have replaced all but a few of the in the house entirely with the DQ bulbs. Now I am waiting to cash in on all the savings in electricity that I the "industry" says I will save. I am sure the check is in the mail somewhere. The only bummer is it takes a few moments for the lights to warm up and put out their full lumen's.


Took out the other door frame today. I was vacuuming up the debris and I found a old rusty fish hook that came from the top of the frame, it was stuck on the end of the vacuum tip and it hooked my finger a bit when I went to take it off. No blood. But what the hell would a fish hook be on the top of a door frame for? I mean someone had to put it there between the top of the door casement and the rough door frame.

Oh my sander took a crap and I bought a cheapo Tool Shop brand from Menards, and wow! that thing really does the job for $21! I also decided to buy better sand paper than the cheap stuff I usally purchase

Postpartum Christmas

Man I tell you this has been a crappy week. I have tried real hard to make merriment with Christmas and all, but the gods have allied against me. We have had some crappy weather lately, with some below zero temperatures, snow, freezing rain, then we have had 40 + degrees, melting snow, and now real heavy fog tonight.
So during the real cold weather, my windshield cracked in 3 nice places and there is a pretty spiderweb crossing the windscreen. Still with me? So, I get up this morning and was doing some running around, paying bills etc. I am at Menards looking at just about everything. I really only needed some tack cloth, some Poly Minwax, and some Zinsser stripper. And I ask the girl in the paint department if she might be interested in going on a date, denied! (actually I had asked another girl late last week if she wanted to go out, denied! and three months ago my girlfriend told me she wanted to be "alone") Well after embarrassing myself badly I forgot the tack cloth and stripper, but did get out with the polyminwax alive, and with some dignity.

Ok, so I come home and get ready to seal the door I have been working on the last few days (more on the later). I was able to get the first coat on one side with no issues. So while I am waiting for the first coat to dry, I jumped into the next project. The area where the washer and dryer hot/cold water pipes come down the wall in the basement were half-assed installed. And I was not looking for a cosmetic change, the pipe themselves were hanging, yes hanging and leaking. The walls in the basement are concrete and brick, and the piece of wood that was holding up the pipes, was also hanging and jury rigged badly in of itself. I took the nail gun and a piece of plywood, nailed that sucker to the concrete for a nice place to reconnect the pipes to the wall, one pipe is CPVC, and one galvanized. I rehung the CPVC, no problems. The galvanized? well the freaking pipe was rusted through and at the "T" joint it broke, water came flying out like a firehose was turned on, and the back half of me was soaked! I ran to the other end of the basement and turned off the water supply coming from the city. So there I am wet, pissed, and looking at what was going to cost me $70 to fix, that I don't have.
The first two pictures are what was installed for water pipes. Not! Now from the city, the water is copper, then goes to galvanized, then CPVC, then back to copper, then CPVC, and back and forth between 3/4" to 1/2" and everything in between. what a fucking mess. The first two pics are what was originally installed. In pic two where the pipe broke, see the "T" to the right of the dripping one? well more on that. So I am standing there, wet ( I think I said that already), got out the hack saw, and could not cut that pipe for nothing. Off to Home Depot (cause I did not want to show my face in Menards again today) bought a saw zaw ( $29.95) , some CPVC and misc. parts I thought I needed. Whip out the new tool and blast through the pipe in 10 secs flat. See that second "T" ? I put the pipe wrench on there and snap the CPVC connect that goes to the tub above. Right where the galvanized and CPVC pipes come together. Christ, back to the store. The guy at Home Depot was very help full, we were both sitting on the floor in the middle of the aisle with plumbing parts laid all over the place. People would start down the aisle with their carts, stop, look, turn around and go the way they came. Kind of funny, considering it has been a shitty week.


Now this is another learning experience, and I hate plumbing. CPVC and PVC are different. The diameters are different, 3/4" PVC is measured from the inside and 3/4" CPVC is measured on the outside. And nary the two shall fit. So back to the store for the third time! I mustered up the guts (the plumbing and paint Departments are next to each other) and went back to Menards luckly I found the exact parts I needed, without help. I headed home and gathered everything I had purchased and assessed the disaster area. Until I get this done, I am not taking a shower, that is what I assessed.

Below is what I was able to cobble together. So far no leaks. The little stub with two 90 degree elbows was originally galvanized with CPVC attached to the upper part, that is what snapped off and resulted in the second trip to the store.


Zinsser, let me talk a bit about the brand of new stripper I found. This stuff is great! No smell, doesn't burn your skin if is gets on you and the clean up is great. It kind of sucks all the paint up, and makes a congealed paste out of the paint and old varnish. What I also found best about the product is that it really gets into the cracks creavasess of the trim and lifts the paint out and makes it kind of fluff up. There is no extra scraping that I have to do and no use of dental tools to get the left behind paint out of the cracks. Very cool and I highly recommend. One of the few bright spots this week.

Monday

Well I just couldn't take the "pumpkin" look anymore. I showed a few folks at work the color I painted last night and they said "just leave it, it will grow on you" well I came home tonight, took a piece of trim that I had stripped and refinished and laid it against the wall to get a feel for what it would look like side by side. I stood there in the frontroom and looked, went and stood on the front porch and looked through the window, stood out in the side yard and looked through the east windows, I looked, I looked and looked some more. About 20 minutes in all, it just wasn't doing it for me. I like the color alot, it isn't made for this room. So off I went to to Menards and bought another gallon of paint and this color is called "Amber Stone". It is hard to tell from the pictures but it is like a dark wheat color vice the "pumpkin patch" color I had before. I think I might use the pumpkin patch somewhere else in the house later on.

So below is the before, after and after pictures.

Here is a picture of the two colors side by side, pretty big difference

and here is the Amber Stone with the the trim laying next to the door, personally I like it and that is all that matters.