Picked up more trim

Today I spent 2.5 hours going to Loew's to pick up more trim. I only got about half of what I needed and will have to make another trip, but with the windows going so slowly, I didn't want the trim stored for a long time and at risk of being damaged or warped. It's so discouraging - coats are taking two months instead of 1-2 weeks. Ugh. I would be happy getting the units of measurement (i.e. weeks vs. months) right.

With today's trip, I've spent 245 hours on the windows and woodwork.

I also pulled 1 large and 1 medium box from the garage to give away on freecycle.org. The horrible plumber left them (they contain ductwork) and never came back to get them. Since it's been 2 years I feel safe getting rid of them. I can't wait in fact - they take up space and remind me of him.

Here are the two boxes sitting in the den waiting for a new home.

Sanding windows

Today I spent half and hour sanding the windows (242.5 to date). It's not much, but it feels good to get anything done on windows. I just can't face long hours on windows, but if I do a little most days it will get done. If I had done even 15 minutes, ala flylady, every day that I didn't want to I'd be much further along. Tomorrow I'll probably spend 2-3 hours to go buy trim.

Wiring, step 1 done!

We finally have a stable internet connection - yay! Thanks to C and his late night efforts 1-5 am sat night and 10 pm Sunday

Our internet connection has slowly degraded over the last few months, and we found that the cable was trashed. We had rigged everything very temporarily when we moved in almost 3 years ago and the main cable was on the floor in the doorway to our office. No wonder it was trashed! We're now working on using the in-wall wiring we did when the walls were open. We have much more to go, but at least this much is done.

trim inventory

Today I spent 45 minutes finishing trim inventory (242 hours on windows to date) so I know what to buy. I had to measure all remaining windows to see what I needed and then see what I had and calculate the best best layout to buy least amount of additional trim.

Our prior incompetent contractro (PIC) screwed up the initial calculation so badly that I have to buy 16 6' lengths of trim, assuming they sell them, may have to buy 7'. That's really bad, although we did have to replace some windows twice party because of his screwups.

I also updated board on which I track woodwork - it's very important to do things in right order. The windows are at all different stages of completion, there's a lot to keep track of and I have to watch critical path. It's too much to try and coat all windows at once - can't find 8 hours of time to do a coat of shellac so I have to break it down into smaller chunks.

I've been tackling the woodwork in small increments - I'm feeling really overwhelmed and discouraged by the slow progress. I find it's better to do a little than none, and a little on most days will get the job done. I was hoping to do a coat every 1-2 weeks, but last coat was 3/13. I'll be lucky to do next coat in 2 months. Ugh. I feel like PIC - that's the way his schedule was, but at least I'm not a professional and I only answer to myself and C.

I'm still here

Just one of my many messages to say that I haven't stopped writing, I'm just behind. Today is actually May 19, so I'm quite a bit behind. I take pictures though, and keep good notes so I hope that someday I'll have less to blog about and more time in which to do it.

A little bit on windows

Today I continued working on my inventory of the trim. It's a bit more complicated than it sounds - I have to figure out exactly what pieces I need to cut and then try to work out how best to use what I have and then figure out what I need to buy. It pays to plan a little - you can cut smaller pieces from the 7' or 8' trim pieces and make as little waste as possible. 15 minutes isn't much, but I was really overwhelmed and didn't even want to touch it. Even a small amount daily will keep it moving ahead. Total to date on windows is 241.25 hours.

window trim, rug

Today I spent 15 minutes taking inventory of the trim I have and what I need. Our prior incompetent conctractor probably screwed up the calculation of how much to buy, and we did have to replace a few windows twice. Total to date on windows is 241 hours.

I also got a special dirt trapper rug for the back door. It works great! The dogs left big muddy footprints on it which is exactly what should happen. I'm looking forward to a little less dust in the house.

5.5 hours wiring on a Sunday

So much for a day of rest..... Today we spent 5.5 hours on wiring. We did make some progress, even though we had to go to Home Depot for parts. We may want to redo some of the wiring - much has changed since we first planned it and ran wires early in the remodel. The immediate goal is stable internet access - our connection is very patchy now and is often not up. We suspect it has to do with all the wires on the floor which get stepped on and otherwise abused by the dogs and by us.

Here is a photo of the board we installed in the corner of the office closet to serve as a hub for all the wires. Everything comes to and leaves from here. We lucked out in that there is an unused flue from when the furnace was in the crawl space under the house. The furnace was non-functional and over 50 years old, so we had it removed and put a new one in the attic. The flue is now empty and runs from the crawl space to the attic in the middle of the house and adjacent to the office closet. We couldn't have asked for a better place to run wires.



Here is a close up of the board. There are lots of holes, as we are giving ourselves capacity for multiple jacks in each room.

Front door is done

Today I spent 15 minutes buffing the front door, which is now done! Total hours on woodwork so far is 240.75. Eventually we are going to get the door frosted by a professional, but for now the Contac privacy film works fine. It feels good just to have something, however small, complete.

Small filing victory

Today I finished filing all the receipts and paperwork from the remodel from 2006. Yes, it has really taken me this long, but it was a lot of stuff. All of it had to be summarized and then described and then I put the receipts in a binder. It's a lot of work, but that paperwork represents money in or out of my pocket when we sell (which will hopefully be never). Any money spent remodeling can be used to reduce any gain you have when you sell.

Here is a picture of my 2006 binder holding 2.25 inches of paperwork (sorry for the blurry picture, I didn't realize where the camera was focusing):

No wiring this Sunday

This weekend was jam packed with lots of other tasks and we were just too wiped out by this afternoon to work on the wiring. We're determined not to let it slide too long though.

More chips

Don't buy bark mulch after it rains! Those huge bags weigh 3 times their normal weight. Between the size and the weight, I could barely lift them and I usually handle them no problem. I put down another 8 bags, for a total of 76 so far. I still need 1-2 more trips of 8 bags each, then the yard will be done at least for a first pass. Some of the areas are already so old they need to be done again.

Stuck, no progress

So many things happening that I haven't made any progress on the house in more weeks than I care to mention. I'm super busy almost every day from early morning till late at night and I just haven't been able to work on the house. I hope to have something to report soon.

Some R&R

I took the last few days off and got out of town. I was feeling really burned out, and my brain was shutting down. I was starting to do things that could be dangerous like spacing out in the car.

C worked on the wiring today. I just didn't have it in me.