Not much done over the last few days

We're having out of town company from Friday to Sunday, and I'm working on Thanksgiving prep as well. Unfortunately, any guests have to stay in a hotel as our house is nowhere near ready for guests - it's not even ready for us! I'll get back to work full speed on Monday.

I am working on the ongoing filing of receipts for the remodel. I'm done through January of 2006, which may not seem like much progress but it is. I have all the receipts sorted by year and binders set up, so the it should go much faster now. It's important to have them organized so we can reduce any gain we have to pay taxes on if we sell. Those receipts are worth hard cash if we sell.

I am still finding paint splatters from our prior incompetent contractor. Does the guy ever use a tarp?

Clearing out house

Today and over the next few days I am clearing everything out of the house that doesn't belong and putting it in the garage. It's not strictly on the schedule, but it does need to be done before we put the flooring in so it will help at that point and will make the house infinitely more comfortable in the meantime. We've got stuff in the house that belongs in the garage and stuff in the garage that belongs in the house so I am attempting to at least make sure that there is no garage stuff in the house. We are having company this weekend which includes two kids so I wanted the house to be safe and as comfortable as possible, which means not tripping over tools and ladders. The garage is now a mess, but we can take our time sorting that out.

I had some dryer drama - out less than 2 year old dryer stopped working. I spent an hour trouble shooting, got nowhere and called the manufacturer to schedule service. Fortunately, the customer service person walked me through some things, and eventually told me to unplug it, wait 10 minutes and turn it on. That did the trick! The dryer actually has a computer, and it needed to be rebooted. Whoda thunk it?

Catch up today

Today I'm just trying to play catch up and catch my breath. I was way too busy this weekend, and today I had a commitment for a volunteer position I hold.

I am sick of people saying comparing their house to mine because it needs to be cleaned. It's like comparing a hangnail with two broken legs. It really says to me that they are not listening and have no clue about what it is like to live in a house that's under construction for 2 1/2 years.

Fire Extinguishers

Today I finally got my fire extinguishers set up. I purchased them over a year ago, and it took a long time to get to that point.

Speaker stands this weekend

This past week I made a Home Depot run and picked up material to build speaker stands for C. He got new speakers for the living room, and they are too easy to tip over to leave them on the floor of the living room where the dogs could bump them.

We spent 12.5 hours between Saturday and Sunday and that's even with all materials on hand, except for that mandatory 2nd trip you make to the home improvement store before completing any home project. It was not the most fun weekend, but at least they are done and the speakers are safe.

We used some of the woodworking skills we've picked up along the way, so it was fun to design and build something we needed for very low cost. They are just a temporary solution - eventually we'll suspend them from the ceiling so they are really out of the way. But that project is not even on the horizon for at least a few years, so at least we have something in the meantime.

We didn't do as well as we wanted to, and could definitely do better next time. We still need to decrease the depth of one speaker stand because our prior incompetent contractor didn't make two walls that were supposed to be the same length the same. Of course, we should have measured both walls, but you'd think that wouldn't be that hard. We also made the mistake of wanting them to fit too perfectly. Had we not been trying to have it be the exact depth of the niche, we would have been fine. Oh well, live and learn.

Here are the new speaker stands, constructed of plywood and 2x4's. The picture is dark, but due to computer problems I can't rotate any of the photos which show them better so here it is.



The dog helped out during construction.

Stained doors today

Today was a long day but I got the last coat of polyurethane on the two exterior doors that needed it. This was not an easy job with two dogs underfoot. I ended up putting them in the bedroom. This was a project I started last fall and I finally got to finish it, at least until they need to be re-coated in 3 years.

Door prep

Today I worked on the exterior doors in anticipation of putting a coat of polyurethane on. In a testament to just how long things can take when you remodel, these doors were put in around September 2005. I got them all stained except the last coat on 2 doors. I'm just getting back to it now, over a year later.

I am somewhat pleased with where we are in the schedule. Our main goal is to have the floors in and the front yard done by this time next year. The exciting thing is that we could be on time. Not that we necessarily will, but it is possible. Even if we are 50 % off in the time estimate (not at all unusual in construction), we could have floors and a front yard in 1.5 years. Also exciting is that I can see the path from now till floors - shellac interior window frames and doors, put window and door trim up, shellac trim, paint interior, then floors.

I haven't disappeared

I know, I am almost a month behind in posting. Today is actually December 11 - I just wanted to put something up so it doesn't look like I'm gone. I keep notes of everything, and will get it all posted eventually. Some day (I fantasize), the house will be further along and I will have more time to blog and less to blog about.

Shelves are done!

I am so excited! I have 40 linear feet of shelving to play with! Oh the possibilities! I had to do a long work session today, but I wanted those shelves up! I am so tired of living in mess!

Here is a shot of the underside of the shelves. I used these "L" brackets so that the space under the shelves isn't impeded by a triangular bracket. These are 14" brackets, so I made the shelves 16" deep. I choose the 14" because they were less than $2 each and to go any bigger jacked the price up closer to $10 each.


Here is a shot of the shelves. They are a little blocked by the stuff in front of them, but you get the idea. The windows are from the house. We had to re-replace a few of the windows and are keeping them to install on the garage. We are planning on installing a door and 1 or 2 windows and maybe a skylight or two as well.




This is a rusty bike someone left on our median strip. I called the police to report it as abandoned because it hasn't moved in days. The police officer told me there is nothing he can do about it until it's been there for two weeks. We have a huge problem with people dumping their trash on our median strip. We are often finding shopping carts, furniture, etc there and the more that gets dumped the worse the problem is because people think "oh, that's the neighborhood dumping ground. The sad thing is that even though the police won't remove it, I can be ticketed for having abandoned property on my median strip. Nice - hold me to a standard then give me no power to live up to it. My neighbors all think I'm too soft for even trying to do the right thing. They think I should just cut the lock and let it get stolen. Seems a bit harsh to me when the police could take it and keep it safe. They did put a note on it, so if it isn't gone they have grounds to remove it.

First shelf up

I had set a goal that by today the first shelf would be up. I didn't get to work on it on Friday, so I had to do extra today but I did get there. It's helpful to set goals sometimes, but other times I work by timer (like scraping the paint droplets off the toilet with my fingernails).

Back to Ikea on a Saturday

Again I ask, what recession? I had to call my plumber 3 times to get him to the house and he's one of the better ones. We went to Ikea today and the shopping center and store were packed!

We were working on speaker stands for C, and after a few hours of planning decided to try Ikea to see if they had anything we could use. We didn't find anything, but the trip wasn't a waste because on the way down there we had the brilliant idea of suspending his speakers from the ceiling. It's a wild idea, but it will work. We'll use a track so they can be easily moved around for various listening scenarios and to get them out of the way when not in use.

Ikea kitchen that's never done

I've made so many trips to Ikea in the last 3 years for the kitchen! Hopefully this will be my last until I am ready to install the toe kick under the cabinets. We are still a long way off from this as I cannot do it until the flooring is in. If all goes according to schedule, the flooring should be in by the end of next summer.

I got a replacement door for my water heater cabinet. Ikea discontinued the cabinet doors I used for the kitchen, so I have to make sure I have everything I need. When we eventually replace the water heater, I want to get a tankless and put it outside, which means we will have a 24" cabinet to use. The current door had the panels removed to add a metal screen for ventilation. I wanted to have regular door to put on the cabinet whenever we get there.

The Ikea run took 4 hours, 2.5 of which was sitting in traffic. The only other thing I got done today was to get some more screws for my garage shelving. You never do a home improvement project with just one trip to the hardware store!

More shelving

Today I went out to look at air purifiers. The dogs sleep on the floor of our room at night (in their own beds), and the room can be quite stinky by the time morning comes! It's not so bad now with open windows, but I think winter will be bad. I didn't find one, but at least I've started the process. I do need to get the trap door the attic insulated since we will need heat before long. It wasn't a problem last year because there was no ventilation in the attic and the heat was just trapped there. When we put the whole house fan in, we had a lot of ventilation cut in the roof, so now we need to insulate the trap door so we don't lose heat out the roof.

I've gotten 18/35 brackets up for my garage shelving and drawn all the level lines. I started working in the corner and down low because I was afraid I'd get pinned in. I also remembered I have a really bright work light, which really helps even when I am working during the day. I wish I had thought of it sooner!

In addition to removing the paint splatters off the toilet, I used Goof-off to remove all the stickers. It is a minor thing, but it makes the bathroom look a lot better and less like a construction zone.

Plumber here, very productive

Today I was home and in my work clothes all day, and go SO MUCH done. I find that I am most productive on these days. Even running out for a quick errand slows me down a lot. I am trying to schedule myself so that if I go out to do errands (and there are a lot of errands when you have a fixer upper), that I do at least a few so that I can go out fewer times total.

I got 8 more brackets up on my shelves, so I have 12 of 35 up. I so wanted to put the first (top) shelf into place and start putting things away, but it will be much easier to get all the brackets up first and not be working under a shelf to install brackets. I can't wait to get the shelves up and do some unpacking and organizing. I am so tired of living in chaos! It disturbs my minimalist sensibilities.

I also finally got the trash can situation straightened out with the city. Only took several weeks and 5 phone calls.

I finally got the plumber here as well. We've had our water heater installed since June 2006, and it is supposed to have yearly maintenance including draining it and inspecting the pilot, flue, valves, etc. and I haven't done it yet. I called the plumber twice and he never called (and he's one of the better contractors). What recession? I got him on his cell today and he happened to be nearby and done for the day so he came over. Because of the way the old plumber put the water heater in, it is impossible to do the maintenance. It's one of the many things he screwed up. In talking to this plumber, I decided, at his suggestion, not to bother with the maintenance. He said most people never do it, and that he himself does not on his own water heater. He also pointed out that it can cause problems if for example, a particle of buildup lodges in one of the valves. We also discussed tankless options for when we have to upgrade. This water heater should last about 10-12 years so hopefully we have many years before we tackle that one. The plumber told me to look for water in the pan under the heater, and that way we will know it is leaking and that we have to replace it soon.

The plumber also showed me how to open and read the water meter. We got a huge water bill last month, and could not figure out why we would be using so much water. I wanted to check for leaks by turning everything off and watching the meter, but didn't know how. He showed me that and gave me a meter tutorial, including how to match the numbers on the meter to my bill - if they misread the numbers that would explain a wrong bill. I think we found our problem though - the guy who cuts the grass found a leak in one of our sprinkler pipes which could explain the high bill. He fixed it, and the meter now shows zero flow when everything is off.

Started shelves in garage, scraping paint

I started the garage shelves in earnest today, and managed to get 4 brackets up on the first shelf. I have 35 brackets total for all 5 shelves, but I expect to pick up speed as I learn. I am starting with the highest shelf first so I am not trying to reach across already installed brackets to work higher.

I also worked on the dreaded task of scraping all the paint splatters from the toilet. The entire tank and most of the rest of the surface is covered with pinprick sized splatters from our prior incompetent contractor who could not figure out how to use a tarp. I tried paint thinner, and it just doesn't remove them. I tried a special plastic spatula, and that didn't work. The only thing that works is my fingernails, and thus you can see why I hate this job (and that contractor) so much. I've decided to break it down in 15 minute increments - that's about all I can handle at a time.

4 more bags chips

Today I spent a little time unloading the booty from yesterday's Home Depot run. I put down another 4 bags of wood chips for a total of 52 bags so far. I'm pretty sure we are half way done, so maybe another 40-50 bags will do it for a first pass. The areas I did first already need a refresher. The chips tend to disappear because they are natural and thus biodegrade. The dogs eat them and move them about the yard. Also, the dogs have been pooping on the chips which is great news because it makes for easy pickup and keeps the grass much cleaner. But with each pickup a few chips go in the bag with that which you are picking up.