The "Green" House, So Close but So Far from Done.

Well, J didn't show up at work yesterday. So he's gone. Guess I get to finish the drywall job. I'll pull the shelving as well. The "green" house is once again down to the few. It's so close to being done too.

Got rid of my 28" pre-hung door. It took me over half an hour until I found Habitat for Humanity. Very out of the way place. Still, someone can use a new door and it won't go into the landfill. My townhouse has a home office and some tools stored in it. The tools are there for repair as funds and time permit, and right now, not much of either. Looked at the outer girder of my deck. It just won't do. Only one 2" by 10" that actually does anything. The rest is just nailed on. Those new joist hangers are pretty much useless until that gets rectified. Ladder up today after work and check out that roof/wall bit.

Moving the office.

I moved my office, no really, it moved. About twenty feet. The computer desk got simplified. The keyboard tray is gone, as is the tower tray. Actually the whole underside is gone, all that's left is the glass top. If you ever get the urge to have a desk with a glass top, don't. Still, it was cheaper keeping the glass then buying a door. The desk was one of those Chinese imports with techno look bent steel tubing and perforated shelving. Also weak as a McMansion in a high wind. The laser printer was on one corner and the weight crushed a caster.

So the top now sits on a wood base made from some cheap (ten bucks) one by two and one by three glued and nailed and doweled together. Not finished since it's not permanent. The alternative was two cheap filing cabinets, but the cheapest was sixty bucks....each. So, hard to beat ten bucks of an American made (me) wood base vs a hundred and twenty bucks of 2 Chinese filing cabinets. Next is the dining room. Saw some classy Italian folding chairs and table. If it doesn't fold, it's outta here. Everything has to fit in, or behind, my Subaru Baja when at last I decide to swap my vertical two-story attached real estate for some place where I can grow veggies, chop wood, and watch the sunset on my front porch and not worry about my neighbor catching on fire and me as well.

Whacking Fingers

I whacked a finger a few months ago. Two of my fingers are partially numb from an old pinched nerve, so of course......it's one that can feel everything. I sure felt that. Of course things like that happen when one is working dead tired. Yesterday I jammed my right forefinger while hunting around for my cell phone. Not going to be banging nails for a little while. My accuracy is kinda shot for now.

The "green" house is almost ready. Piles of electrical fixtures and having to move everything in and out and around. The master bedroom is now the trim room. The back bedroom became the paint room. The garage is still the paint and finish shop. The back porch is the saw shop. Some of the doors wound up in the office since that is the least disturbed place. We all have our places for tools. I put my tools in the laundry closet during the day as I get done with them. Boss has the kitchen. J has a corner of the garage.

A died four days ago. He was a good guy if a bit hasty. Some of him is in the work done on the "green" house. There is no better memorial then leaving behind something useful. He was a carpenter.

Unwanted Mail Call.....or Paper Spam

Once again, I have been called on to contribute to the consumer economy, to do my duty and spend money. So, instead of just tossing and shredding (credit card offers must always be shredded), let's take a look.

Lumber Liquidators.......colour flyer, lotsa nice pictures and some guy named Ty Pennington. Who he? Ah, lets check the Wiki. ".......... is a carpenter, TV personality, and a former fashion model." Pass, don't need a floor right now, and don't like prices quoted as "low as".

Great Clips.......hair "cuttery"as opposed to a proper barber shop that has a spittoon on the floor. Last time, I said, "I want a haircut and I got money". Not polite but the cashier asked for the third time, my phone number. Still, least thematic of the hair slash and burn places.

Furniture Direct.......Expensive, overstuffed or ornate furniture, probably made in China. The "Home Theater" recliners, talk about couch potato-ism. Toss.

Pet Supermart......optic nerve straining flyer in yellow and red.... toss.

Food Lion.....nah, Kroger closer, but they are all the same, customer loyalty cards, prices, and all that. Toss.

Gerber's Life Insurance Company.....selling life insurance on infants and children. Really. All I got is a fat feline. Toss.

AARP Life Insurance Program......actually New York Life. They want me to get life insurance. Nah. My assets would more then cover the disposal of my corpus. Also some measly amount of "up to $15,000". Bet the premiums are way up there. Toss.

American Express Business Gold cards Rewards program.....wants me to get one of their cards and will reward me points. What are points, some new currency? I like the "pay now" system.....so much cheaper. Lotsa small print on the backside, like annual fee of forty bucks and they can do anything they want to me. Shred. Toss.

AT &T...... thanks me for "choosing" them. Actually they swallowed up Ma Bell South. Shred. Toss.

Pershing LLC....wants me to pay up for the privilege of owning a losing stock. Think I'll close it instead....save, call Vanguard.

Shopwise....... asks me if I've seen some missing kid that's 43 years old. Huh. Toss.

Countrywide Home Loans....informs me that mortgage rates are down and that I should refinance my ARM. Lie. MSNBC quote, "Rates on 30-year mortgages jumped to the highest level in five weeks.......". Also I have NO mortgage. Borrowing money in this economic climate is not a good idea. Pay off everything. Shred. Toss.

Looks like I'll be contributing to my business instead.

Bamboo and all that.

The "green" house goes on. More trim going in, the bamboo floor is all nicely stacked and sorted to color (yes, we are that picky), which drove J to distraction. He thought it would look good mixed, but boss wants consistency in tone throughout the house. J did a nice job in trimming out the attic stair, then I caulked and painted it. Going to caulk all around the ceiling boxes and seal off the voids. I thought I had three days off next week but neighbor wants me to do his kitchen. He saw mine. Should clean my house better if it's doing that "selling" for me.

Uh, that will be (insert really high price) for the (floor, steel, counter, red-light district services.....), sir.

Yesterday was fun. J cleaned out the crawl space and then we sistered three joists to take steel walls. The inflation rate on steel is 20 percent per month according to my boss.

J seems to know his stuff, so perhaps the window trim can get rocking' earlier. The attic hatchway needs more caulk and gets trimmed out today. I also shimmed it out and redid the hinge as well to get it to close straight. The spring is a bit too strong, so it will close with the rest of the stairway still out.

Lost my Snug-lid key for awhile. I had to open that hatch behind the back seat and reach the emergency release. What a pain. That thing is coming off next weekend.

Sunday, no ladder, no roof patrol, no nuthin.

Sunday was a bit of a bust. Beautiful clear day, very much like Northern California, only in North Carolina. I was going to get a ladder but I had no bungee cords. So I got bungee cords. Then I got to my Bro-In Law's house and said hello to my sister and niece......got out my roof rack and found that the hardware had finally died. Subaru Baja roof bars have galvanized bolts and brass nuts. Can we say "electrolysis"? Can we say dissimilar metals? So off to the local hardware store to get wing nuts and bolts, all galvanized. Blew off the ladder project for later. It's not raining anyway and the leak is at my neighbor's house. So not a pressing issue para mi.

The Subaru Baja, 2003, 54000 miles, has been a solid beastie. Only issues are:

1. Wind noise in front windows.
2. Left speakers work, the others don't.
3. Hinge gasket on my Snug-lid came off....crappy glue.
4. Dissimilar metals in my roof rack.

Other then that, pretty solid.....just oil changes.

Back at the green house today. J, the new guy will be there. Today we nail in the cleats for the attic walk for the speaker wiring, consolidate the cardboard, shim out the attic stairs since they are where they are supposed to be and nail it home, wipe the grout haze off the kitchen floor, and get the place more or less organized.

Here at the "brown" house, the roof rack situation will get sorted out and I'm gonna get my tools down to what I need, for example, that saber saw can stay home, as can my sawzall.

Grouting, not Caulking.

Another Saturday to be spent at the green house. Another new body, J who seems like a decent guy, did nice work in grouting tile. Tile kitchen floor now wanted. At the time the house was framed, it was a vinyl floor that was wanted. So the house was framed for vinyl. Tile is heavier and requires a stiffer floor so it doesn't crack. Boss spent much time in the crawl space sistering up joists. Doesn't sound so hard until one realizes that there's already plumbing and electrical roughed in, and you have to work around it.

I'm running speaker wire, and just have a few feet to drop outside the inner porch wall for future speakers to be done. Had to be real careful since behind one of the places was a vent pipe and wiring. So I measured down from a vent and then did the same to the outside. On my drill, I put a mark that was the thickness of the siding, foam board, OSB sheathing and band joist. Worked out well. Missed everything I was supposed to. One of the waking nightmares of working on an almost finished house, is nailing or drilling or screwing through wires and plumbing.

The new immigration bill isn't even good, but it's all we are going to get. I disagree with the guest worker provision since we already have twelve million uninvited guests already. The H1B visa program expansion as well, since it's well known that Hi-tech companies are using that to get cheaper tech labor. Still, we do get a doubling of the border patrol force and a means of verifying legit people. In the long run, we can absorb twelve million people and their second generation, which is well extant, are Americans anyway. So you potential new citizens, if you work hard and are willing to play by the rules, come out of the shadows and join us. Always welcome.

Not working at the "brown" house. I have no time. My neighbor and I have to step flash my roof into his wall. Sunday perhaps I can borrow my ladder from my bro-in-law and scope it out. Arrgh, next time my house will be built by me with my own mistakes.

Da Blog

It's been cleaned up a little bit. I added a label index to get around easier. Also redid an entry to keep trouble (lawyers) away.

Weekend in Loudoun

Last week, I got an interesting missive from one D.M. Bashor, who wanted me to go to some seminar on a cash only business. Googling Dana Bashor proved rather interesting, so I went up to Loudoun County, Virginia instead.

I like to go through Richmond every now and then. The city skyline is really impressive coming from the south on 95.
After crossing the James and a few more hours, I was back in that northernmost tip of Virginia. A view of the Union Cemetery in Lovettsville, Virginia.

The Loudoun County McMansion. Not a great picture but this example near Purcellville has two front doors along with the innumerable gables and the three to four car garage.
A slightly less obnoxious example.
Contrast the above with this.

Here's an old door at the old family place. The door is from the 1830's but stayed where it was when the 1884 addition was put on. The detail shows the old claw marks from where a cat or dog long, long time ago pawed at it to get out. I was reading about the painted Victorians of San Francisco, so I did a "Painted Lady" door quite a few years ago.


Part of the problem at this old, old house, is that the rim door locks are the same "vintage". Add to that generations of people slamming doors, children, and other torture the door hardware goes through, they wear out. Only problem is, is that the hardware is so old, it was obsolete before Kaiser Bill got dangerous (WW1). The newest original hardware is about 123 years old. This was on the old preacher's study. It had quit working a few years ago, but I just propped a chair under the knob when visiting to keep the dog out at night.


Emmy, half Belgian Shepard, half Rhodesian Ridgeback, and uninvited roomie.

So I got out the old bits and pieces of locks when asked to fix the door, and started sorting out something that would work.

I finally picked out and repaired an old lock and chose a white porcelain door knob and a marbleized door knob. There are now some nice reproductions, but the old locks are all cast iron inside.

The dog gets to stay out now. Not a great repair job but at least the hardware is original...very original.

The upstairs hall, looking at the 1833 A.D. back wall of the house. Since the wall is three courses of brick, it's a bit thick. The door is relatively recent, a yellow pine cross & bible from Hechinger's. The doorway itself was added in 1884, probably enlarging an existing window.

Some scenes of the front garden and my case of Dominion Root Beer. Apparently Giant in Purcellville gets one a day. I got this one. It's changed though. It didn't have corn syrup in it before or the artificial flavouring.

Deck Bolts

After the dentist yesterday, it was time to beat on my own house.

The bolts are in.

This will not do. Note the nice big gap between the rail and the steps. Later though, steps aren't going anywhere.


The corner of the utility room looks iffy. Probably need to add some more support beneath the joists.

Been A-while, Mental Midget Moment

It's been awhile since the last post. We are pushing hard at the Yellow house. Lots of painting, varnishing, last minute odds and ends. A really nice weekend, with a brush in my hand. Mental Midget Moment, do NOT put open bucket of paint next to bucket of water when cleaning up. Get two buckets of not-paint. Oh. Well. I went and got two gallons of Zinnzer water-based bullseye primer to fix that MMM.

Crusty old contractor looked at my place. He was visiting R across the street. First thing he said,"Where are the deck bolts?" I have 9 of em'. In a box in my living room along with the 2" by 12" that's going to hold them. Doing no good in a box, but no time so far to put them in. When he started in on my steps, I pointed out they weren't falling down and so enjoyed a lesser priority. They have big gaps than can entrap children between the steps and the rails. Still, I have no children.....that I know of.

He liked my cantilever, said it was o k but we do things different now. I agreed on that point. Since the cantilever was done way back when, it's legal. Still, the thing is very slapdash. I'm still shy on the added fasteners needed in the deck, but it's better then it was before. I repaid the helpful advice by giving them some water for R's car, a badly overheating convertible.

R's house has got some major mistakes in it. Since the laundry closet has a regular door, they hacked a big hole in the wall above and put two air return grills there. I looked at it and said, "What the ***k is that?" in wonderment. Privacy hardware everywhere, obviously the contractors got a deal. Place only needs passage locks in laundry and closets. The bath cabinets were swapped. No way a three footer is going by the toilet in the first bath. The cabinet above the fridge location was hung crooked. I could also tell that the carpet padding wasn't the good stuff. Lot of ceiling fans, all at upraised arm chopping height. I pointed out the really major stuff for him to take up with his builder.

Dentist today, short workday, really need some time away from that place.

Rot, rot, go away, and don't come back here another day.

Pictures of this "pilgrim's progress" This is two weeks of hard work with friends and family as a rotten old townhouse gets fixed.

Amazing what caulk and paint will do. Of course that trim above the door was primer-ed and back primed, and after being cut to fit, the sawn edges were painted as well.


Behind that is this. Just an engineered girder that sits on my foundation. I filled it in with two by two nailers and two by twelve blocking where the cantilever goes through. On the outside, half inch exterior ply, also caulked and primer-ed. No more water coming in down here! or mice. Or squirrels. Or ants. This doesn't hold anything up, just wanted a solid barrier between my crawl space and the wide, wide world.


The cantilever. The builder just shoved some two by tens into my girder system. Not very kosher but since there's no evidence of sagging or cracking around the fireplace insert, no point in changing it. I just cleaned the rot out and tightened it up.


The back of the townhouse. Thirty two feet of rotting cedar-sided chimney chase. I have a twenty four feet ladder.....and a great respect of heights.

Just had to see what was inside, so pried a few clapboards loose, and took a look. That mess has to be squirrels. That pile of insulation was once insulating my house. Needless to say, no fires since I bought the place two years ago.


The missing bottom plate and other nastiness. Treated wood below. The water and dry rot dissolved part of the three quarter exterior plywood decking over the last twenty years. Not much to do here though until the water dripping issue gets resolved at the roof line. Most of the framing is fine.

Yowza, another day. Making mud.

Not much new. Still working beneath my deck. The last few odds and ends before moving up to the "main" floor. Taken in whole, my townhouse is an expensive, rotting mess, so best to look at one piece at a time, else I would be running down the street, screaming, a la Chicken Little, "My house is falling down! My house is falling down! My house is falling down!". So feeling good about getting the the deck and the cantilever rot (mostly) fixed.

Opened the side of my chimney chase. It's bad in there. Pictures soon.