Winston's Broken House

2011-09-21T21:08:00.002-04:00

Erin and I refuse to pay for cable television or a satellite dish. We had purchased a set of rabbit ears, that was touted as being perfect for the new digital signals. Reception was spotty at best. Next, we experimented with an antenna called the Leaf. You hang it on the wall like a painting. It doesn't work either. Last weekend, Winston and I installed an old fashioned arial antenna in our attic. See photo. We then ran a co-axial cable down from the attic and into the basement and then over and up to the TV. Every single channel that the TV detects, we now receive crystal clear and for FREE! Tengo gusto realmente de una visión.

2011-08-14T18:12:00.002-04:00

We just had brick veneer put on the cinder block foundation wall. This is final condition in order for us to apply for historic tax credits. Brick shown. Also shown, my best painter is make a few touch-ups to the siding.

2011-05-20T22:01:00.002-04:00

Finally completed vanity for Winston's and Tate's bathroom. I built from scratch. Winston thought all the pulls being the same color was boring. His selections are seen in photo (left).

2011-04-30T21:58:00.000-04:00

2011-04-28T07:39:00.004-04:00

Go Winston! This is not a dinky trimmer from the rack at Home Depot. Winston is manhandling a Tanaka 39.8-cc, commercial-grade trimmer. I purchased it because it has plenty of power and because the shaft is long enough to keep me from having to lean over. I got it at our favorite farm supply, Stone Brothers and Bryd. I can't do any yard work now without Winston asking to use the trimmer. He loves it. Grandmothers, on both sides, can rest assured that the face shield is mandatory equipment.

2011-03-13T20:27:00.001-04:00

The Lorax with Tate and Winston

2011-02-24T06:28:00.001-05:00

Happy holidays!

2010-11-30T22:26:00.001-05:00

Brightly Merrily Holiday Card

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November 2010: more boxes unpacked

2010-11-11T21:08:00.016-05:00

2010-08-03T07:39:00.001-04:00

Just in time for Tate's 4th birthday party, we had a pool installed on the front porch.

2010-05-10T20:32:00.001-04:00

We got the C.O. last Friday. Yeah!

2010-05-10T20:30:00.001-04:00

Ahmad and his crew came back in to paint the stairs and the cabinets.

2010-04-09T22:55:00.000-04:00

2010-04-09T22:52:00.000-04:00

2010-04-09T22:49:00.000-04:00

2010-04-09T22:47:00.001-04:00

Counter tops in. Center island to have butcher block top.

2010-04-09T22:44:00.000-04:00

Bathroom getting closer to done.

2010-03-27T22:09:00.000-04:00

Floor people finished last Wednesday.

2010-03-27T22:05:00.000-04:00

back porch

2010-03-24T21:59:00.000-04:00

Buffing floors after first coat

2010-03-24T21:54:00.001-04:00

Kids' room

2010-03-24T21:52:00.000-04:00

Guest bed room

2010-03-24T21:47:00.000-04:00

Master bed room

2010-03-24T21:44:00.000-04:00

2010-03-17T21:21:00.002-04:00

Painting.

2010-03-11T21:30:00.000-05:00

Tile going down in the kids' bathroom.

2010-03-11T21:25:00.001-05:00

Tile in the master bath before grout.

2010-03-11T21:21:00.001-05:00

Dining room's mantel is now in. This mantel came from a house on Hyde Park that burned last year. Two other mantels from that will be installed in the house also came from that house.

2010-03-11T21:18:00.001-05:00

The study's mantel is back in.

2010-03-04T22:28:00.000-05:00

Emon turns matching stair spindles on a lathe.

2010-02-21T07:57:00.000-05:00

Ladies of the house working to finalize interior color selections.

2010-02-16T22:06:00.000-05:00

Sheetrock going up.

2010-02-16T22:04:00.000-05:00

Pine flooring going back down.

2010-02-12T10:24:00.001-05:00

Front door with new tempered glass (per code). Sidelite to also have one lite of tempered glass (on order).

2010-02-12T10:22:00.001-05:00

Electrical rough-in passed. Mechanical rough-in passed. Framing passed. Insulation passed. Drywall crew to start in a day or two.

2010-01-29T20:19:00.000-05:00

Closing in on completing exterior trim and paint.

2010-01-13T21:55:00.001-05:00

Windows are going in this week.

2010-01-08T07:05:00.000-05:00

2010-01-06T22:33:00.000-05:00

2010-01-06T21:38:00.002-05:00

The Greek returns being built into the gable.

2009-12-31T17:33:00.002-05:00

The last bit of siding should be installed by the end of tomorrow.

2009-12-31T17:32:00.000-05:00

Plumbing rough-in passed on 12/30/09. Good job Fat Mike and Doug.

2009-12-23T18:30:00.001-05:00

See notes in next post.

2009-12-23T18:17:00.002-05:00

Randy, the greatest electrician in all of the world, wanted the portion of the southern wall, where the service head is to be located, painted ASAP. While Ahmad, the best painter I know, had his sprayer filled, he went ahead and primed all the siding that is currently up. Sherwin Williams tints primer so the blue we see is pretty close to the final shade. The gentleman in the photo is Adrian. He is a one of the best masons I know.

2009-12-18T06:13:00.001-05:00

More siding. On the inside, the plumbers, fat Mike and Doug, are almost about to call for rough-in inspection.

2009-12-18T06:10:00.002-05:00

The siding is being scraped and sanded off-site. Siding is then being reinstalled. The bare space next to the front door will house a side lite.

2009-12-09T22:13:00.000-05:00

Tyvek

2009-12-09T22:12:00.000-05:00

2009-12-09T22:10:00.000-05:00

2009-12-09T21:05:00.000-05:00

Main color for exterior siding.

2009-11-26T09:34:00.001-05:00

Rafters being placed on lower hipped roof.

2009-11-22T13:40:00.000-05:00

Tie-in of gabled roof over bath. Lower portion roof will be hipped.

2009-11-22T13:39:00.000-05:00

Looking out over ceilings joists of first floor over the addition.

2009-11-22T13:36:00.002-05:00

Standing in master bedroom and looking through door opening to 2nd floor portion of addition that will be master bath and closet. Bathroom on the right where windows are. Closet on left (wall with no window openings).

2009-11-22T13:34:00.001-05:00

Wall framing complete. Roof framing and tie-in to existing roof almost complete for 2nd floor portion of addition. All wall sheathing complete and all door and window openings cut in.

2009-11-16T22:30:00.000-05:00

Some new walls and temporary tent that we erected during the rains from Ida.

2009-11-16T22:28:00.000-05:00

Basement and partial flooring system.

2009-11-09T21:14:00.001-05:00

I am unable to resist the temptation that freshly poured concrete provides.

2009-11-09T21:10:00.001-05:00

Here is final product after final floating and broom finish.

2009-11-09T21:07:00.002-05:00

Here is the rig. A mixer dumps its load into the hopper of the pumper. The pumper pumps it through the 2-inch line to the men at the pour. The pump operator has a remote control that controls the flow. He stays with the concrete men and pumps when they call for more and turns it off when they say. Neat. Pumping two mixers full of concrete took about 3 hours. The pump operator said he could pump that amount in 30 minutes if they didn't need him to stop. Fun.

2009-11-09T21:02:00.002-05:00

Since the site sits on top of hill, there is no way to get a concrete truck in there to pour. We had to hire a concrete pumper to pump all 17 yards of concrete up the hill. Due to the power lines, we could not hire a boom truck. And, since we needed to be able to move the nozzle around the pour, we hired a grout pumper with a 2-inch line. A 4-inch would be too heavy for the men to move around. In order to pump concrete through a 2-inch line, you have to get smaller aggregate. The smaller aggregate costs a bit more per yard.

2009-11-09T21:00:00.002-05:00

Tino and his crew putting down the forms for the footings. The basement floor and the footings will be poured together. Tino is the best concrete man I know. I have known him for about 6 years. He lives up the street from us.

2009-10-30T08:30:00.000-04:00

Basement wall pier footing.

2009-10-27T19:56:00.002-04:00

Daddy's sexy new pump jacks.

2009-10-27T19:53:00.000-04:00

Emon putting up new ceiling joists above a bathroom on the second floor. I see your hard hat. Where are your safety goggles, sir?

2009-10-27T19:49:00.000-04:00

We have put the stairs back and they are even reasonably level. There will be a powder room under the stairs for me and Winston to go powder our noses in. My dad will be turning matching spindles where we are missing some. I have yet to inform him of this newly assigned duty.

2009-10-27T19:43:00.000-04:00

Fat Mike, the world's best plumber, is measuring the basement he is digging for us. The basement, under the new addition, is the one room in the entire house that I have been given any design authority over.

2009-10-14T21:43:00.001-04:00

The pressure treated 5/4 decking and jack-leg support structure underneath has been removed. Inside, more flooring, joists, walls and headers are being installed.

2009-10-10T07:52:00.000-04:00

Plans for modifications and replacement addition are almost complete. Without Tom Merrigan and Scott Harmon at Center City Architecture, we would have never been able to take the project on. They are amazing!

2009-10-10T07:31:00.000-04:00

Standing in the upstairs foyer and looking down over the dining room. Fire damaged and rotted floor joists and flooring removed.

2009-10-07T21:25:00.001-04:00

Looking down from old upstairs bathroom, piping that carried gas to the original gas lamps can be seen.

2009-10-07T21:22:00.002-04:00

Looking west from above the parlor and down at the new floor joists for the master bedroom. Joists meet over central wall.

2009-10-07T21:20:00.002-04:00

Standing in front parlor and looking up and west. New wood is floor joist for master bedroom. Central wall was not salvageable.

2009-10-07T21:16:00.002-04:00

Photo shows south wall and east facing wall (front). 1/2-inch CDX plywood will be covered with building wrap and the German wood siding will be re-installed.

2009-09-30T20:19:00.000-04:00

The winches are being tightened. A sketch on the back of a napkin shows my instructions for racking the south and north walls.

2009-09-30T20:04:00.000-04:00

This is not an optical illusion. The 4x6 upright posts are plumb. At 8 feet above the top surface of the first floor, the house is leaning a full 5 inches. These uprights are braced to the new floor. We will use 2-ton winches to pull the house back into square. We are currently racking the southern and northern walls. In other words, we are making the west and east walls plumb. Once these two walls are plumb, we will rack the western wall (front of the house). We are also only doing one floor at a time. Once we have racked all four walls of the first floor, we will go upstairs and rack those walls. After each operation, we will be removing the siding and putting up 1/2 CDX Plywood (can't stand OSB) in order to hold the house upright. A builders wrap will be added prior to putting up the old siding. The old siding will likely be sanded, primed and painted off site. Then, the painters will put a final coat of paint on the siding after it is put back up.

2009-09-27T12:12:00.001-04:00

Triple band joist is complete around three sides of the original part of the house. The western side of the house will connect to the new addition. The band joist of western wall will sit on basement wall that is yet to be dug. 60% of the floor joists have been hung.

2009-09-24T20:15:00.001-04:00

Flooring system is shown in place under what will be the dining room. Flashing on wood is a termite shield. Flashing is galvanized steel. All joists are hung with Simpson Strong Tie hangers. Perimeter/Band Joist is comprised of three 2x10's. Central girder is also comprised of three 2x10's. Blocking is my preferred way of laterally bracing floor joists. Sub floor, where you see my compressor resting, is 3/4-inch CDX plywood. On top of CDX will be placed tar roofing paper and then old tough & groove flooring will be reinstalled.

2009-09-19T18:02:00.000-04:00

Piers

2009-09-18T18:23:00.000-04:00

Inspector was out yesterday afternoon. All footing approved for pouring. Photos shows corner footing after concrete was poured. All footings have been poured as of Friday morning. 1st pier constructed today. Hope to have all piers constructed by the end of Monday and start putting in band joisting and girders.

2009-09-18T18:15:00.000-04:00

Photo showing interior footing form with #4 rebar grid and riser rebar shown laying to the side (they will be braced vertical after concrete is poured).

2009-09-15T21:30:00.000-04:00

The entire house is now sitting on blocks. Every pier under the house crumbled to the touch. All piers will be replaced. 20 footings have been dug and forms and steel are going in today and tomorrow. We should be calling for footer inspection by the end of this week. Hope to start pouring concrete by Friday.

2009-09-08T13:27:00.000-04:00

2009-08-27T21:32:00.000-04:00

Standing on the upstairs landing and looking up at ceiling joists and rafters. The roof is in pretty decent shape. However, the engineer will likely require that the valley rafters be beefed up like we were required to do at 403 N Queen.

2009-08-27T21:29:00.000-04:00

The central upstairs bath only needs a bit of wall paper and paint and it will be ready to go.

2009-08-27T21:21:00.000-04:00

Standing on east wall of parlor and looking west at fire place. The floor system has been removed. The floor you see is the dirt under the home. Flooring system on the entire first floor will need to be rebuilt. We will begin rebuilding this system as soon as we replace failed piers, band joist and central girder and after sealing the crawl space.

2009-08-15T23:32:00.000-04:00

2009-07-29T21:52:00.000-04:00

The addition that was falling off is no more. It came off the house today with a bang. Luckily, we were all able to get out from under it before she fell. The photos are not very good. They were taken with my cell phone.

2009-06-19T16:03:00.001-04:00

demo of plaster and lathe almost done.

2009-05-05T00:39:00.000-04:00

Word from Harrington Bank, "Pre-approved for construction loan". Yeah!

2009-03-14T20:38:00.000-04:00

2009-03-14T20:33:00.000-04:00

2009-03-14T20:30:00.000-04:00

poop

2009-03-05T22:00:00.000-05:00

My dad tells me that I should try and figure out where the old privy was located. He said that I could dig down and find some really neat glass bottles. Also, I was crawling around in the attic the other day. There are 1/2 steel pipes running to the tops of each upstairs room. They kind of run to the centers. I was at a loss. My dad figures they are gas lines as the house probably did not have electricity and used gas lighting when built. Interesting stuff.

2009-03-05T14:23:00.000-05:00

2009-02-28T19:50:00.002-05:00

2009-02-28T19:50:00.001-05:00

2009-02-26T22:08:00.000-05:00

Broken House

2009-02-26T22:01:00.000-05:00

This is the little dude in front of our future home. When Winston first toured the inside of the house, he said "daddy, why is this house broken." So, we call 407 Oakwood the Broken House.