Week ending 7/31/09

On Monday, I spent an hour prepping two windows for shellac and managed to remove some damage from fiasco we had with the window washing company. I also did some prep on shade shim.

I'm really trying to do more on the windows - I NEED to get windows done. Once that happens, the quality of life in our house will change.

On Wednesday, I was dealing with unreliable internet all day. The wiring is still messed up and we're not sure what's wrong. There is a test we can run, but we can't find analog phone which is very frustrating. I so want to be able to find my stuff.

On Thursday, I spent 1 hour prepping the back door and only got two small sections done. There is lots more prep to do just on this door. It will probably be about 4 hours total just to prep. This is one reason why remodeling takes so long! You spend 4 hours just prepping a door. It's only a small chunk of the total time spent on that door, and that 4 hours yields no visible results or improvement in quality of life. I've been keeping a detailed checklist for the woodwork because crossing things off is often the only sign of progress I get even after many hours of work.

I also worked on the slatwall for the garage, and got frustrated figuring it out. Everything in this house is a project. This was supposed to be simple, quick, cheap storage and it is anything but that (well, it's still pretty cheap). I think i figured it out and will keep plugging away. I think when it's done it will be worth it. We'll have a convenient, nice-looking, organized way to store our recreation equipment and that section of the garage will be done. With all the stress of remodeling and having our house in such disarray, it will be nice to have easy access to the stuff we use for fun.

Here is the before shot of the slatwall leaning against the wall where it will be installed. It's in the front right corner of the garage so we can access our fun stuff easily. The white at the top of the picture is the garage door. The walls are so ugly - unfinished studs and black tar paper which is on the inside of the exterior wall.



On Friday, I spent half an hour picking up sand paper. I need a variety to get the back door in good enough shape for shellac. I couldn't do much else on the house today. My big project was to steam clean nasty cobwebs on gates and fencing. I don't know what kind of mutant spiders live here, but they spin a lot of webs and the webs don't come off with a duster, hose, windex or broom. Even when I shot high-pressure steam they still didn't come off that easily.

Total time on windows and woodwork to date: 288 hours

Still here, I swear

For the few people still reading..... I swear I'm still here, still writing. Today I posted the last two entries and it is really October 30. Someday I'll be caught up.... maybe when I have less house stuff to do and more time to write about it.

Week ending 7/24/09

On Tuesday, I spent another hour working on a solution to my shim problem on the window shade. I did actually find a shim that will work and now I just need to finish it so it matches the rest of the window wood work. It's a piece molding called screen molding.

On Wednesday, I got an offer from the window washing company to pay for the replacement parts ($404) and decided to take it if they waive the window washing fee of $150. It doesn't make me whole, but I can't make myself sick over it.

On Thursday, I spent 1.5 hours prepping for the next coat of shellac. I'm slowly moving forward on the windows. While I had the air compressor out, I used it to clean some of the construction dust in places like under the bed, in corners and the intake vent for the whole house fan. Construction dust is so unlike regular dust it shouldn't even be called dust. I really hope to be done the windows by 9/30.

Total hours on windows to date: 285.5

Week ending 7/17/09

On Monday, I spent 3 hours trying to get the shade hung. I went to Home Depot to try to find solutions for a shim (the jamb is beveled like a picture frame and the shade bracket is flat and needs to be mounted level.). I found a few things that didn't work and will need to go back again.

On Friday I spent 3.5 hours dealing with the problem of the damage caused by the window washing company. Things are very messed up and it's really frustrating. We did have a meeting today and it may end up okay, but I have serious doubts.

Hours to date on the windows: 283.

Week ending 7/10/09

On Monday I worked for half an hour on the windows. I tried to do some prep but need to set aside a big chunk of time. I'm working on undoing some crappy nailing by contractor. He volunteered to put up some trim on the windows, but the nail he used won't drive all the way in. Curiously he left them sticking out a half an inch. I need to remove them and use nail gun and finish nails like he should have originally. Hopefully by Thursday the prep will be done, and then I can do the next coat on Friday or Monday.

On Thursday, I spent 2.5 hours fixing the contractors work. I replaced the bad nails with finish nails and prepped the office window. The progress feels good, any progress really. The windows look a lot cleaner and better already.

On Friday, I had a horrible incident with a company I hired to wash the windows. They were so dirty from the construction that I couldn't get them clean myself. I had hired a company once before and they did a great job so I thought it was a good idea. The short story is that through a combination of bad judgment, stupidity and laziness, they damaged my windows really badly. I'm in for a battle with them. I was absolutely sick after spending so much time hand finishing them. I spent half an hour putting up new paper on the windows, which I never thought I would have to do again. I thought the next time I put anything up on the windows it would be the shade.

Speaking of shades, the new shade came and it fits perfectly. It has a smaller bracket than the prior shade since I stepped down from 3/4" to 3/8" pleats. The new bracket will be much easier to install and I may not even have to be as precise as I would have had to be with the larger bracket.

276.5 hours on the windows to date

Here is a shot of the damage done to the windows. The dogs were freaking out because I wasn't there. It was a Friday afternoon and instead of waiting for me to get there, like I specified twice when booking the service, the crew went ahead and started. The dogs scratched the heck out of the beautiful woodwork and tore the window coverings down.

Still behind on the blog

Yeah, same old news.... I actually just posted the last entry on August 24. Stay tuned, everything is recorded and photographed where warranted. I'll get current some day....

Week ending 7/3/09

On Wednesday I spent 2.25 hours on the windows and got the living room trim up. I have to buy a nail driver because contractor curiously didn't drive nails and left them sticking out about a half an inch.

On Thursday, my only progress was to run out and get the get nail driver (half hour)

I also threw down 8 more bags of chips in the yard - I'm thinking maybe 8 bags every other month for maintenance.

On Friday, I spent half an hour prepping and redoing my schedule. It's ambitious in terms of what I want to accomplish in each coat, but it reduces the number of remaining coats from 6 to 4.

I've spent 273 hours to date on the windows.