The beginning of the end

I think I am seeing a tiny light at the end of the renovation tunnel.
Uncle James came by for a visit after his annual restful retreat to
Mohegan Island and put 3 days of labor into the house, as well as
donating some materials, and bringing his positive vibe to work-site.
It was great to visit with James and with his help we were able to get
most of the walls and woodwork patched primed. He is a rock-star in
every since of the word… besides not being particularly famous or
playing an instrument… or singing. Nor is he a rock or a star. He’s
an
awesome dude I’ve known my whole life. Thanks James!

The walls and wood being primed is great, but the big psychological
satisfaction came from beginning the install of the shower-surround
tile. It’s the first finish work to be done. Work that does not
require
additional work and looks finished.

Bathroom's a comin'

Here are a few pictures of the tile surround for the tub. Kinda looks like the walls of the F station at 7th avenue, but it'll make a great shower. I (Ilana) for one am impressed to see it there and look forward to my hot showers in the morning, especially with that little shampoo nook that Burris built for me :).



Here's a nice shot of the hallway, all newly painted, fresh and white.


Finally, for those who have seen the kitchen previously, I include these last shots for shock value.


The bathroom and foyer are gone and now the kitchen feels really open and spacious. We are planning to build a pantry behind that chimney and will have direct access to the backyard from the new doorway where the bathroom wall used to be. The stove will go in front of the chimney, along with (hopefully) a little island, time permitting.

On going going on

The house projects are almost at the end of the snowball. I didn’t
think I would get as deep into this as I did. I also realize that if I
had different standards I could have stopped before all of this
madness.

It started by ripping out some floor boards to run pipe to turn the
smallest upstairs bedroom into a bathroom. In the space between the
floors were the remains of a once thriving mouse civilization. Wood
chips from where they were gnawing the sub-flooring, rags in nesting
piles, corn-cobs, nut shells, and 150 years of rodent excrement were
heaped and scattered throughout. This necessitated the vacuuming under
the bathroom floor.

While vacuuming the crawlspace I decided I did not want the painted
pine plank flooring in the other bedrooms. I also didn’t want to remove
the planks, clean them, and then return them (pine planks don’t really
do it for me). For the same effort I could install a new hardwood T&G
floor which would look better and last longer. Taking out the planks
would also give me access to remove the sub-floor and vacuum away the
many mouse artifacts.

Well… with the floor up I noticed some old wiring that should be
replaced and I figured I could run some R19 insulation to help diminish
sound and thermal transfer between floors. The wiring turned into a
re-wiring of much of the upstairs, and also the running of some wire to
the downstairs lights that needed switches. The upstairs floor also
took a little dip at one end that could be leveled out, and expandable
foam could be used to tighten everything up and hinder future mouse
invasions.

So adding a bathroom has expanded to a bunch of work that ought to get
done, and if it doesn’t get done now it will never happen… So I got
to get it done now. I guess this is typical of many home improvement
projects.

Bathroom progress

Here's a picture of the bathroom progress. The tub is in! The cubby to the right is going to be a linen closet (but Kerstin wants to make the shelves removable and keep the door to the attic behind them "just in case").

Working Over Labor Day Weekend

Burris is here for the month. He arrived in town last week and has been
minding the fort. It has been a great help to have someone at the house
to coordinate subcontractors, especially the mason who seems to have
created his own space-time operational construct. I feel kind of bad
that I have not had a chance to go out and have a vacation with Burris,
but I tell myself it will happen in the next week or so, when things on
the house settle down.

Ben, Ellen and Ilana's dad were up here this weekend and were a great help. Scott removed the divider between the living and dining rooms which really opens up the space. He also demolished the bathroom downstairs, removing hundreds of pounds of linoleum from the walls and ceilings. We discovered that there was a doorway behind all that junk where we had planned to put a door for backyard access. That was a cool bonus. Ben prepped and primed the doors and trim downstairs. It is so nice to have that horrible aqua trim back to a neutral white. It makes the whole downstairs look much more like a home. Burris worked on the wet walls in the bathroom and some more electric while I started patching the plaster over the chimney and in the holes in the ceiling. We got a tub this weekend and with any luck it will go in today or tomorrow. Now we begin the push to get the upstairs bathroom done.

Renovations to Second Floor

It is I, Ilana, returning to the blogosphere! It's been a while since I last posted and so with Kerstin pretty much tied up with work and house stuff, I feel it is my wifely duty to at least report on our progress to the world. Being pregnant means I'm pretty much useless when it comes to all other aspects of the renovation anyway. There's so much to report. 2 weeks ago, my Dad came up from New Hampshire and helped us out over the weekend. He and Kerstin took out the crumbling wall of the master bedroom and removed the floors. They found a bunch of scary knob and tube wiring and a gigantic pile of rat droppings and corncobs. My Dad worked tirelessly all weekend, and vacuumed up every last turd from the floor. I think he filled the holding tank of Kerstin's giant shop vac to the brim 4 or 5 times before the mess was cleaned up. It looked pretty good when he was all done. In the process, he discovered an Indian head penny under the subfloor from 1864. I think that the original carpenters must have dropped it between the floor boards when they were building the house and it's been hiding out with the mice ever since. We thought it may have been a rare coin and eagerly searched the web for the latest appraisal value. Sadly, it was only worth about $11, dashing our hopes for financing the new floor by auctioning it on Ebay. Ah well. It is a cool keepsake nonetheless.
Last week Kerstin's friend Burris came out from LA to give him a hand. Kerstin has worked with him on several carpentry and renovation projects in the past and we're thrilled to have his help for the next month. He'll be staying with us until the end of September. Burris removed the old knob and tube wiring and ran all new wiring for the entire house. I'm so excited to have fresh romex and wall switches in every room! We plan to put in new lighting fixtures in most rooms and have added a few circuits for new fixtures in the bathroom, hallway and kitchen. The plan now is to insulate the floor under the bedrooms and bathrooms and then lay down a new subfloor. I bought some wonderful beech hardwood flooring for the bedrooms and the landing. Burris should have it installed in a week or so. Kerstin and Burris also framed out a new doorway for the master bedroom and will be framing a new wall this week. So much fun!

renovations Begin

The renovations begin! It took a little while but the cleaning and
getting stuff cleared out phase is complete. We had a couple runs to
the dump, a garage sale, and some ‘charitable’ donation action.
Although I believe they were the charitable ones for taking the stuff,
not us for giving it. All the appliance are living in the garage now,
and will most likely be sold/given away in the new future. The house is
clear enough to start working.

The way I figure it, there are 3 areas for this year’s renovations
(places to concentrate to make the house livable by winter) 1- the
upstairs bedrooms – two get remodeled, one gets turned into a
bathroom.
2- The downstairs living area (living room, dining room, tea-room).
These are pretty easy fixes and mostly just need a litte plaster and
paint work (I hope). 3- Kitchen and bathroom. Big renovations for the
kitchen and downstairs bathroom, knocking out a wall, running plumbing
and electric, I haven’t had a chance to design it all.

I expect to have three bad surprises during this first process; things
I didn’t foresee and will take extra time and money to sort out. I
have
already discovered the first, failing brick in one of the chimneys.
What I thought was failing plaster turned out to be cracked and
shifting brick. The chimney has a metal sleeve inside so the bad brick
isn’t a fire hazard, but it looks bad and I wouldn’t want to
plaster it
(too rough). So after a bunch of calls a mason finally called back and
will replace the bad brickwork.

Berry Patch

The construction on the house will begin properly this week. The ground floor of the Artdogs building has been renovated so I can redirect my efforts to the house. The last big piece was finishing the floors. After that there was the kick molding and a few odds and ends, but on the whole, the facility can be used. I figure the first step will be the upstairs bathroom.

The garden is going gangbusters and there have been no further deer incursions since the fence and soap and records went up. We are still at least a month away from any garden yield. However, the berry patch is producing like a rabbit on Clomiphene. We were told the raspberries were delicious, and they truly are. We didn’t do anything to the patch with our other projects and all… They should have been pruned back and tied to stakes so we could get between the rows. Right now there’s a big thorny clump we can only circle the outside of. Still, there is more than enough for all our berry-related projects.

Old Garbage

Scott came up for another help-weekend. Ilana fixed a tremendous Indian supper as a belated fathers day gift, which was a great treat. We didn’t work on the house too much. Instead we sanded the floors of the Artdogs ground floor, as part of another project I’m trying to get done before I completely delve into the Harrison house. Scott and I did manage to move all the appliances to the garage (Fridge, Stove, Washer, dryer, etc…) so the rooms are more ready for renovation, and we picked away at the kitchen walls, but nothing serious.
I don’t have any pictures of the progress yet, but I do have these old shots of the garbage outside the house. Scott loaded in his truck and he and I took it to the dump during his last visit. Not only did he load it all himself while I was on an errand, but when we got to the dump I didn’t have any cash and he had to pay the weight cost. What a father-in-Law!